Embers
by HyperNDA
Summary: He had meant to just feed on her, but now he was intrigued. She was fire encased in human form, and in the time they had been together, she had fallen for him. In hindsight, she had given herself too wholly to him. He toyed with her emotions, stoking the embers higher. He forgot that if you play with fire, you'll likely be burned. MitchellXOC, Please read and review.
1. Prologue

**EMBERS  
**

**Hey everybody! This is my new story ****Embers****. I recently discovered Being Human and I'm totally in love with it… especially Aidan Turner…*le drool*… Anyways, I noticed an unacceptable lack of Mitchell/OC fics and decided to rectify the situation! This story will explore Mitchell struggling with his vampirism and having a human girlfriend, and how she would affect the story. Anyways, just leave a review and tell me if you think this story is worth continuing.**

_**He had meant to just feed on her, but now he was intrigued. She was fire encased in human form, and in the time they had been together, she had fallen for him. In hindsight, she had given herself too wholly to him. He toyed with her emotions, stoking the embers higher. He forgot that if you play with fire, you'll likely be burned.**_

The man across the bar was staring at her. She didn't mind; she was beautiful and she knew it, and he was attractive too. If anything, she was flattered by the intense hazel gaze so fixed on her, but she knew it wouldn't lead anywhere. She had been in bad relationships in the last few years, and was by no means ready to allow anybody else close enough to harm her. It wasn't as though she had had her heart broken; she was far too practical to let any man hold her heart. As a child, she had witnessed her parents' marriage struggling. Their whole lives had revolved on trying to get through each day. There was never any finality, never any success; there was only the next day and the next disappointment. So she had learnt to use men for her own amusement. She had long, wavy auburn hair that tumbled down her back to reach her waist. Her silver eyes were as hard and unyielding as an iron shield. Twenty three years of disappointments had made her guarded and to strangers she seemed cold and aloof. However, if one took the time to break down the walls encasing her heart, they would find that she was warm and affectionate. She was stubborn and fiery, a fierce protector.

"Hello gorgeous," the man grinned, sidling up beside her. "Where have you been all my life?"

"Hiding from you." She said with a sweet smile. This didn't seem to discourage the man, and he grinned wider if anything.

"Ouch," he chuckled. "You wound me, fair lady."

"Uh-huh." She deadpanned, unimpressed.

"You don't talk much, do you?" he asked.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" she asked with mock surprise.

"Wild guess," he smirked. "I'm Mitchell, by the way."

"Uh-huh." She repeated.

"Can I buy you a drink?" he offered.

"I already have a drink." She replied, brandishing the half empty glass.

"Can I buy you another?" he asked. She rolled her eyes, then glanced him up and down, as though appraising an item. He was handsome enough, she supposed, with his black curls and piercing hazel eyes.

"Why not." She threw back the rest of her drink. He would do, for the night.

"Impressive," he whistled, forking over the cash to buy her a refill. "I like a girl who can handle her alcohol." She shrugged.

"I'm Irish."

"Ditto," he grinned. "Haven't been back in a long time."

"How long?" she enquired curiously. He peered into the depths of his beer, suddenly thoughtful.

"A long time." He repeated breathily.

"Right." She said awkwardly.

"What about you? How long has it been since you saw the old country?" he asked, grin back in place.

"I left as soon as I finished school, so about four or five years." She said.

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why did you leave?" he clarified.

"I'm not drunk enough to have this conversation with a stranger." She said curtly, swigging her drink.

"Fair enough," he said. "I understand." It was odd, but she felt like he really did understand. It wasn't very often that she felt understood, so she chugged her whiskey and slammed the glass down on the bar with an air of finality.

"I'm running." She admitted. He glanced at her with genuine interest, so different from the men who had only ever wanted her for her beauty.

"From what?" he asked.

"From my past," she began. "I just want to forget about my life before Bristol."

"What about your family?" he asked. She glanced sideways at him.

"Let's just say I didn't leave a lot behind."

"And what do you do? Here in Bristol, I mean."

"I'm a nurse." She said.

"Oh?"

"I like being able to help people." She said quietly, as though embarrassed by the confession. Mitchell frowned at her tone of voice.

"That's a good thing, no?"

"It wasn't exactly my specialty back in Ireland," She suddenly flushed scarlet, embarrassed at revealing so much of herself to him, a complete stranger. "Now, how are you making me talk so much? I'm telling you my darkest secrets as casually as though we were discussing the weather?" he gave her a genuine grin.

"I have a trustworthy face," He said simply, grinning cheekily. She chuckled and rolled her eyes at him. "How about I take you out?" he suddenly said.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, a date." He elaborated.

"I don't think so," she said, sliding off her bar stool and starting away from him. "I don't really do the whole 'dating' thing." Mitchell stood as well, alarmed by her sudden departure.

"Come on," he said, following her out of the bar. "You've not even told me your name!"

"If I tell you my name will you leave me alone?" she asked with a smirk.

"No promises." He grinned again as she hailed a taxi and opened the door.

"It's Scarlet." She said, then climbed in the taxi and swung the door shut. He watched her drive away. The woman was far too interesting for him to forget about. He had meant to just feed on her, but now he was intrigued.

_**BH:UK**_

He went to the café to meet Marco and Digby, put in a foul mood by his thirst, not having managed to feed the night before after being rebuffed by Scarlet. He approached the café from the back to avoid being seen by humans, and found Marco and Digby beating up a defenceless, weedy man. Sniffing the air, his keen senses told him that it was a werewolf.

"Whoa! What are you doing?" he demanded of them, jogging up to them.

"We saw him in the caff." Digby grinned, kicking the man in the stomach. He let out a cry of pain and curled further in on himself.

"Got something to say, Mitchell?" Marco asked with a triumphant grin, the thrill of the sight of blood rushing through him.

"How many people in the cafe?" Mitchell asked.

"A few." Digby said.

"Uh-huh. Anyone see you leave?" Mitchell asked, barely containing his fury.

"Does it matter?" Marco demanded, baring his fangs.

"I don't know, Marco, their kitchen guy turns up dead and they've seen you go after him, do you think maybe they might see the connection?" Mitchell demanded sarcastically.

"So? They don't know who we are." Marco smiled smugly.

"They do. I got here before you arrived, got talking to the owner," Digby began, flushing as red as a vampire could. "His nan's dying, and he wanted an undertakers. So I kind of... Gave him our business card." He admitted nervously, fidgeting under Mitchell's furious gaze.

"Business cards?! We're not a real business!" Marco cried, the man they were beating forgotten.

"They were doing 300 for a fiver." Digby justified with a wail. Marco let out a growl and grabbed the back of Digby's jacket, making a run for it.

"Look. I've got no love for lycos, but that's a big trail you're leaving there," Mitchell sighed, helping the werewolf to his feet. "All right. Come on."

"They were going to kill me." The werewolf mumbled as he struggled to his feet.

"Yeah." Mitchell said simply.

"Why?" the werewolf asked, confused and angry.

"They don't like werewolves." Mitchell said.

"How did they know?"

"People like us can recognise people like you." Mitchell scoffed.

"People like you?" the werewolf repeated.

"Vampires," Mitchell informed him. "Do you live near here?"

"I've a room over the cafe. Did you just say vampires?" he responded absentmindedly.

"You're gonna have to leave. They're gonna come back, they always do. I'm sorry." Mitchell said to him, starting away from him.

"And then what? I can't keep... I've lost...everything!" the werewolf cried. "I've had this for six months, and now there are vampires? And they want to kill me? So I have to leave...again? And then what?" his voice was shrill and desperate. She had said she was a nurse, hadn't she? Mitchell grinned, a plan already forming in his head.

"First, we'll get you to the hospital. You might have some broken ribs."

_**BH:UK**_

He half carried the werewolf- George, his name was- to the nearest hospital. While he was in with a doctor, Mitchell approached the reception.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for somebody, a nurse called Scarlet. D'you reckon you could help me?"\ The tired-looking receptionist glanced up at him dryly, perking up a bit when she saw his handsome face.

"For you, honey, anything," she smirked, tapping away at the keyboard. "Okay, we have one, her name is Scarlet Lockwood."

"Redhead?" Mitchell asked.

"Is this her?" the receptionist asked, spinning the monitor of her computer to show a personnel file. The photo showed his Scarlet, the mysterious woman from the night before.

"That's the one," he grinned. "Is she on duty tonight?"

"Lockwood, Lockwood, Lockwood," the receptionist muttered under her breath as she typed away. "Here we go, Scarlet Lockwood…" her eyes scanned the page for a moment. "Nope, she's not here tonight, she'll be working tomorrow though."

"Right."

"You a friend of hers?" the receptionist asked.

"I hope to be." He winked, before thanking her for her time and leaving.

_**BH:UK**_

He quickly got him and George jobs as porters in the hospital. On his first day of work, he ran into Scarlet.

"Mitchell?" Scarlet demanded as she stormed up to him.

"Morning, Scarlet." He smiled innocently.

"What are you doing here?!" she demanded.

"I'm the new porter!" he grinned, gesturing at the broom he held.

"Did you…" she trailed off uncertainly. "Did you come here to see me?"

"I'm not stalking you, if that's what you mean." He said.

"That's a relief."

"Will you go out with me yet?" he asked right off.

"Are you serious?" Scarlet demanded. "You're a persistent bugger."

"So I've been told." He grinned, waiting for a response. She deflated, realising he wouldn't be deterred.

"Will you leave me alone if I say yes?"

"No promises." Mitchell said.

"That's what you said last time." Scarlet groaned.

"Well, if the date is truly awful and we end up sticking our heads in the oven, I will leave you alone." He promised.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Scarlet said, pulling a pen out of her pocket. She took Mitchell's hand in her own. Her black fingerless gloves were soft cashmere against his calloused palm. She quickly wrote her name and phone number on the inside of his wrist. "Call me anytime after 5 any day, or I'll be at work."

"My thanks, fair and sweet lady." He mock bowed and she rolled her eyes, jogging away to do her rounds.

_**BH:UK**_

She arrived back at her flat a little after four thirty. It was nicely furnished and comfortable, but it wasn't a home. No knick-knacks or photos were displayed in the entire flat. There were no pictures of her family adorning the walls, as though she was trying to escape something in her past. She dropped her keys in the key bowl, before kicking off her shoes and going to the kitchen to microwave something for dinner. She was strictly a microwave meal person, having no cooking skill whatsoever. Her mother had never taught her, and she could never be bothered learning how. She had a very particular routine that she never strayed from, simply out of habit. She liked to know what to expect, but in the recent years she had found herself in a bit of an inescapable rut. She curled up on the couch with her macaroni and cheese to watch Real Hustle reruns. Suddenly, the phone rang, startling her. She didn't have many friends, and it wasn't common for her to receive phone calls. She sprang up from the sofa, digging through her handbag to find her mobile, wondering who it could possibly be. As she unlocked it, she saw that it was an unknown number. With only a moment's hesitation, she answered it.

"Hello?"

"_Scarlet? It's John Mitchell."_

"Who?"

"_Mitchell. We met the other night…"_

"Oh, yeah!"

"_Good to know I'm so memorable."_ He said dryly.

"No, I know who you are!" she said quickly. "What's up?"

"_I thought we could go out."_

"Sure. When are you free?"

"_Now, actually. What about you?"_

"Uh, now?"

"_Yeah. Is that okay?"_

"Uh, s-sure! Where do you want to meet?" she grabbed a pen and wrote down the address Mitchell gave her.

"_Fantastic. See you at eight."_

"See you then," she said, hanging up and dropping the phone back into the depths of her bag. "Why the fuck did I say yes?" she demanded of herself. She glanced at her watch; it was five thirty. She let out a yelp and ran to her bathroom to shower. She only had three hours to get ready!

_**BH:UK**_

When she arrived at the pub, Mitchell was already there, waiting for her. She looked him up and down appreciatively. He looked fantastic in his black leather jacket, and his gorgeous hair was perfectly tousled. He grinned his handsome grin when he saw her, and ushered her over to the table he sat at. He ordered their drinks.

"Schnapps?" she asked disbelievingly as he sipped.

"I know it's pretty girly, but I picked up a taste for it when I lived in Venice."

"You lived in Venice?" she asked. Mitchell looked uncomfortable.

"Uhh, yeah. Exchange program, while I was in school."

"Doesn't that mean you would be underage?" she asked, brow furrowed in confusion.

"Eh, I meant while I was in college."

"You went to college?" she asked. "Why do you work as a hospital porter if you went to college?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?" he asked, sipping his drink.

"Isn't that what people do on dates?" she smirked.

"In that case, tell me about yourself." He said.

"Not a lot you don't already know," she said, sipping her drink. "My name is Scarlet Lockwood, I'm from Dublin and I'm a nurse." Mitchell gave her an unimpressed look.

"Well, that's rather boring."

"I'm not a very interesting person."

"I find that hard to believe." He scoffed.

"And why is that?" she enquired.

"You're pretty mysterious; it's obvious you're hiding something." He said, looking at her intensely.

"What does that mean?" she asked, suddenly nervous.

"It doesn't mean anything," he said, winking at her. "Just an observation."

"Yeah, yeah, alright. Well, what about you then?"

"Similar story, my name is John Mitchell, originally from Dublin, moved to Bristol for…work."

"How old are you, then?" she asked.

"Twenty four," he said quickly as though it were rehearsed. "Yourself?"

"I just turned twenty three."

"You're so young." he said, peering into the depths of his drink.

"You're only a year older than me." She reminded him.

"Y-yeah. Only a year."

They spent several hours drinking and talking. Both were reluctant to talk about themselves or their past, so they spoke of more generic things, such as memories of Ireland and their work at the hospital. Mitchell told her about his best friend George, and how they had just rented a house a few minutes from the hospital. When they were pleasantly tipsy, Mitchell kissed her clumsily, and she kissed him back with gusto. Soon, it grew late and he offered to walk her home.

_**BH:UK**_

"This is me." She said, gesturing towards the flat.

"Looks like a nice place." Mitchell whistled appreciatively. She unlocked the front door, then turned around to look at him.

"Would you like to come inside?" she asked shyly.

"Yeah," Mitchell grinned, and stepped closer to her. "Yeah, I would." Neither of them pretended like they didn't know what was going to happen. As soon as Scarlet closed the door behind them, Mitchell had her up against the wall, lips pressed together in a searing kiss. Their tongues duelled for dominance as they kissed passionately. Mitchell briefly pulled away from her to press his lips to her throat, nipping and sucking at her flesh. She dragged him away from her neck and led him by the hand into her bedroom. She shrugged off her leather jacket and wound her arms around his neck, pulling his face down for another kiss. He pushed away from her for just long enough to pull her shirt over her head. She shoved him back onto her bed, before crawling on top of him and grinding her hips against his. He flipped their positions so he was straddling her. She undid the buttons of his shirt and helped him yank it off. His head dipped again to kiss his way down her throat. Suddenly, she felt something in him change. Suddenly, his breathy groans turned to animalistic growling. He was fiercer, laving more attention on her neck. All he could hear was the beating of her pulse and the rushing of her blood in her veins. He tried to fight it back, but his will was overpowered by the blood lust.

"Mitchell?" she asked nervously as he grew more desperate. She glanced at his face, seeing his eyes were an inky black and long fangs protruded from his lips. "Mitchell!" He tore himself away from her and hit the wall hard, gasping for breath.

"Leave!" he cried. She ran to his side, trying to help him. "Get out!"

"No!" she said stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest. He threw her her shirt and she tugged it on, before placing a hand on Mitchell's chest.

"It's not safe for you to be here!" Mitchell hissed.

"You're not getting rid of me!"

"I-I can't c-control it," he said, voice shaky with the strain of not leaping on her and savaging her. "P-please, leave."

"I'm not leaving you," she said, putting a stabilising hand on his shoulder. He flinched, but looked into her silver eyes. He didn't see judgement or fear in their depths, only concern. He decided it was safe to take a chance on her.

And so, Mitchell told Scarlet. He told her everything about the supernaturals, how many he had killed and how he had tried so hard to stay clean. To his vast surprise, she was not horrified and repulsed by him. She sat quietly and listened to his story, letting out a huge breath when he was finished. She gently twined her fingers with his and lay her head on his shoulder. It was only the second time he had ever been accepted for what he was.

Scarlet wasn't afraid of him, and it made him feel… human.

"I need you to save me." He confessed, stroking her auburn hair.

"I'll keep you strong. I can help you." She said, kissing him sweetly. It wasn't the only time they had close encounters with the beast inside him, over the next eight months of their relationship, they tried over and over to make love, but the vampire would always make an appearance.

She was fire. Mitchell snorted at the cliché, but there was really no other way to explain her. She was like fire encased in human form. In the eight months they were together, she grew to love Mitchell. In hindsight, she had given herself too wholly to him, loved too deeply and lost herself in him. Mitchell toyed with her emotions, stoking the embers higher. He had obviously forgotten that if you play with fire, you'll likely be burned.

**Thanks for reading, guys! Don't forget to review! **


	2. There's No Such Thing As Monsters

**EMBERS**

**Sup guys! I'm back with another chapter :D I just thought I'd let everyone know that I'm screwing around with the timeline a little so try not to freak out about that. Many thanks to i-need-shine for her insight on the story, you're a legend! Also thanks to all the people who put this story on alert!**

**Just a warning, there is a slight lime in this chapter. It's not particularly descriptive, but if that kind of thing makes you uncomfortable, feel free to skip it.**

_**He had meant to just feed on her, but now he was intrigued. She was fire encased in human form, and in the time they had been together, she had fallen for him. In hindsight, she had given herself too wholly to him. He toyed with her emotions, stoking the embers higher. He forgot that if you play with fire, you'll likely be burned.**_

"Stop fidgeting," Mitchell chuckled affectionately as Scarlet nervously wrung the hem of her shirt with shaking fingers. "They're going to love you."

"_They?_" she demanded. "I thought you said you only lived with George!"

"Er, yes," he said quickly. "I meant George. _George_ is going to love you." Scarlet raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"Why am I only meeting him now?" she asked.

"We've talked about this, Scar," he said exasperatedly. "If the other vampires ever found out about you, they'd kill you."

"But you said George isn't a vampire."

"It isn't about George," Mitchell explained. "We don't know who might be watching," Scarlet glanced over her shoulder theatrically. "I'm serious, Scar." He sighed.

"I can take care of myself, Mitchell." She said defensively.

"I don't doubt it, but these are monsters that have been killing for centuries, not drunken lechers grabbing at your ass," Mitchell said. "This isn't the time for this conversation. Let's go in." he said, lacing his fingers with hers and putting his key into the door with his other hand. He pulled her into the house with him and she glanced around. The house was decorated plainly, if not unimaginatively and cheaply, using materials that were designed to be easy to clean and if not, then able to hide the stain, including tiled flooring and wallpaper in eye-searing retro patterns. Numerous mugs of what appeared to be cold tea were scattered across the coffee table. The only things that seemed to reflect the men living in the house were the numerous books and knick-knacks that lined the shelves of the sitting room. Mitchell dropped his keys into a bowl beside the door, the loud clanging startling Scarlet. She felt slightly uneasy in the room, as though she were being watched, scrutinized. Suddenly a man in his mid-twenties came into the room, wearing a wide, nervous smile. He adjusted his glasses self-consciously, before stopping in front of them.

"S-Scarlet, I presume." He said, offering her his hand to shake.

"You presume correctly," she said with a nervous smile to match his. "It's nice to meet you, George."

"And you." He said, before he and Mitchell glanced over at the couch, both frozen. Scarlet glanced in that direction and saw nothing.

"Uh, guys?" she asked quietly. "What are you looking at?" they glanced at each other, frozen in bewilderment.

"Nothing!" they said simultaneously.

"You know what? I think we should go into the kitchen." George suggested.

"Fantastic idea, George!" Mitchell said, a little too eagerly for Scarlet. She glared at him suspiciously. As she walked toward the kitchen, she found a shattered tile at the foot of the staircase.

"Is there a bathroom I could use?" Scarlet asked, feeling dizzy. Mitchell directed her and she locked the door behind her.

_**BH:UK**_

She leaned tiredly on the bathroom sink, staring at herself in the grubby mirror. The uneasiness hadn't left, and she shifted uncomfortably under the feeling of being watched.

"_You're not as bad as you could be, I suppose,"_ a female voice suddenly echoed in the small bathroom. Scarlet's head snapped up and she glanced around in alarm. _"You could be blonde, I guess."_

"Is-Is somebody there?" she asked, voice shaky.

"_Wait…you can hear me?"_

"What the hell is going on?" Scarlet demanded.

"_Oh my God, you can hear me, can't you?!" _Scarlet glanced in the mirror again, and saw behind her reflection, an image of a tanned woman with dark, curly hair. She was dressed in white and grey, and had an enormous grin on her face. Scarlet spun around, to find nobody behind her. Looking back in the mirror, she saw only her own frightened reflection staring back at her. With a loud curse, she fled from the bathroom and ran into Mitchell's arms.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked her as she shook.

"I heard…a voice. In the bathroom." She said, aware of how insane it made her sound.

"_Mitchell! She can hear me! You sure do know how to pick 'em." _Scarlet tensed up.

"What the hell is _that_?" she demanded.

"You can hear Annie?" George asked incredulously.

"Annie?" Scarlet repeated.

"_I'm a ghost."_

"Excuse me?" she asked. Mitchell and George were glaring at the empty doorway.

"Er, that 'voice' is Annie." Mitchell explained.

"_I'm dead." _Annie said in an oddly cheerful voice.

"Fuck me." Scarlet groaned.

"Calm down, Scar," Mitchell said. "It's okay, Annie won't hurt you."

"I'm not scared, more…" she trailed off, looking at George for inspiration. "Overwhelmed."

"_So now wouldn't be a great time to mention the fact that George is a werewolf?" _Annie said.

"Oh, I need something alcoholic before this conversation goes any further." Scarlet said.

"_That_ we can do." Mitchell said.

_**BH:UK**_

"So let me get this straight," Scarlet began. "You- a vampire- saved George- a werewolf- from being killed by vampires, then chose to move into a house together to join humanity, but the house is haunted by Annie- a ghost," she glanced at Mitchell. "Is that about right?" she put her bottle down on the coffee table, and George quickly slid a coaster under it.

"Yeah," Mitchell nodded, taking a long drink of his beer. "Close enough."

"Christ, I thought _my _family was odd." Scarlet said, winking at George.

"You know, you're taking this rather well," George said. "When I found out about the supernatural world I was a gibbering idiot for about an hour."

"_Tell me about it." _Annie said dryly. Scarlet chuckled.

"I'm not nearly as calm as I look," she admitted. "But I'm willing to learn to deal with it," George looked almost offended, and stood abruptly before stalking up the stairs to his bedroom. "Was it something I said?" she asked guiltily.

"Nah," Mitchell said. "George's girlfriend called him a monster and dumped him when she found out hat he was." Scarlet frowned, feeling sorry for the poor man.

"I should be going," she muttered. "It's past midnight."

"It's too late for you to be out on the streets," Mitchell said. "Stay with me." Scarlet looked at him sideways.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" she asked.

"We can try," Mitchell said, moving closer to her. "What do we have to lose?"

"A rather large amount of blood, in my case." Scarlet muttered as Mitchell moved to kneel over her.

"I can control myself." Mitchell murmured against her lips. She groaned into his mouth as he kissed her, running her fingers through his hair. He stood, taking her hands and leading her to his bedroom. It was messy, and soon more clothing was thrown haphazardly to the floor. He laid her on his bed, before crawling on top of her, kissing her with fierce need. She hesitated, suddenly realising what they were about to do was incredibly dangerous for her. He rained feather light kisses over her face, carefully only touching her with his upper body. At the light unpressuring touches, Scarlet could feel her body relax, and soon the light touches were a tease. She grabbed the back of his head when he feathered a kiss over he lips again and she touched her tongue to his lips as she had done many times before as a signal that she was ready to pick up where they had left off. Mitchell responded as he had before and deepened the kiss, his hands once again roaming her body freely. Scarlet's hands too were exploring their new kingdom. She moved them from his hard chest to his muscular back in slow circles that edged ever downwards. When they reached his tight rear, and she ran her hands over it, his hips twitched forward, bumping his manhood into her and eliciting a gasp from both of them. The both continued stroking, touching and finding places with both finger and tongue that made the other gasp until Scarlet could feel curiosity replacing her earlier panic. She ran her hand along the outside of his thigh, then moved her fingers to the inside and began to draw them back up along it. For a second his hands stopped moving and she was pretty sure that his whole attention was focused on the location of her fingers. Then he kissed her again, with a nonchalance that she was pretty sure he wasn't feeling. As suddenly as he'd deepened the kiss, he broke it off and looked down to where her hand was touching him. She kept her eyes on his face, watching the play of desire and passion. There was nothing fearful about his expression now. He dipped his head to kiss and lick at her throat.

"Mitchell, please," She gasped. He didn't respond, but his kisses grew more frantic, and she felt his teeth graze her flesh. "Mitchell?" He let out a beastly hiss, and Scarlet knew he was gone. With a groan of frustration, she shoved him off of her and watched as the black faded from his eyes and he returned to himself.

"Fuck," He groaned. "Not again."

"It's alright, love." Scarlet said, lacing their fingers together.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered, voice ashamed and barely audible.

"It's not your fault." She said. She would never say it, but he knew she was disappointed.

"Stay with me anyway?" he asked. She smiled at him, and slid under the blanket, patting the mattress beside her, asking him to join her. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close. It was almost torturous for him to be so close to her, to feel her skin against his and not be able to do anything about it. Eventually he drifted off to sleep, and when he woke the next morning, Scarlet was still there.

_**BH:UK**_

Needless to say, Annie was thrilled to finally have some female company, and before long, humans were able to see her. Annie would have great fun in picking out Scarlet's outfits and doing her hair and makeup. Scarlet allowed her to do these things, because she knew that Annie missed being able to do these 'normal' things for herself, and Annie appreciated it. Scarlet enjoyed Annie's company immensely, and soon she spent more time at Mitchell and George's house than she did at her own flat.

"Hello!" Annie cried, flinging the door open.  
"12 inch Mess of Meats." Said the bored-looking delivery man.

"Oh, thank you." She responded as Mitchell came to the door and handed him money for their pizza.

"Great. Keep the change." He said, taking the pizza back into the sitting room where George and Scarlet waited eagerly.

"So, how long have you been delivering pizzas?" Annie asked the delivery man.

"Uh...couple of months?"

"Could you ride a moped or did they teach you?" she went on, oblivious to his boredom.

"They taught us. We had to drive round a car park." He responded tiredly.

"Bet you hate pizza. When your girlfriend's like, 'What do you want for tea?' I bet you're like, 'Not pizza!'" she continued.

"I live with my dad." The delivery man responded with a sneer.

"Madness. See ya," Annie cried, slamming the door shut. "He could see me!"

"He could SO see you." Mitchell said, opening the pizza box and cramming an entire slice into his mouth.

"It's happening all the time now. Not just with you two, but with normal people," Annie said, grinning at Scarlet. "I was putting out the recycling and a van drove past and the guy shouted 'Slag!'" Scarlet chuckled in disbelief, only Annie would be thrilled at being called a slag. "So, who wants tea?" the ghost asked. George grunted in annoyance. "What?" Annie demanded.

"You keep making tea! Every surface is covered with mugs of tea and coffee! I go to make some tea and I can't! There's no mugs, no tea! It's all been made! You can't even drink it! You can't drink it, but you keep making it!" George said, voice almost hysterical. "Oh, oh, oh, my god, it's driving me INSANE!"

"Oh, well, I like my routine, it makes me feel normal." Annie said, watching Scarlet wistfully as she bit into a slice of pizza.

"You're a ghost!" George cried incredulously.

"Yeah, OK," Annie said, pointing to a bunch of half empty mugs of tea on the table.  
"Are you finished with these?" Scarlet nodded, tossing the end of a pizza crust at George, who batted it away in disgust.

"Come on." Mitchell said, putting down the pizza box and fishing around in his pockets for his keys.

"Oh, you're all off, then?" Annie asked, sounding disappointed. She had gathered most of the mugs into her arms, balancing them precariously.

"Yeah, we've got work, then it's his time of the month." Mitchell said, zipping up his jacket.

"Oh. Great. Tell you what, I won't miss that," Annie remarked. "Used to have to curl up on the sofa, a hot water bottle, Pride and Prejudice. Anyone said anything, I'd bite their head off," she chuckled, before a horrifying thought occurred to her. "Gosh, I suppose in your case that... that is actually quite a possibility isn't it, you know, biting?" Mitchell grinned in disbelief as George openly glared at her.

"We'll see you later." Mitchell said.

"I finish at 10, so I'll be back here around 10:15." Scarlet said, catching an empty mug that Annie had dropped before it shattered on the ground.

"OK, I'll see you later, guys."

_**BH:UK**_

Mitchell had made it very clear to Scarlet that they weren't allowed to be seen together in public, for her own safety. They had to make do with stolen kisses in hospital supply closets and occasionally, the rooms of unconscious patients. Scarlet saw Mitchell strolling casually through her ward, hands in his pockets. He disappeared into a private room of a high-profile patient, and with a quick glance around to be sure that she wasn't needed immediately, she followed him.

"Jesus, Mitchell, how are you supposed to find anywhere in this place? I followed the signs to Intensive Care, I ended back where I came in!" Scarlet paused outside the door as she heard voices in the room.

"What are you doing here, Seth?" Mitchell demanded.

"Herrick thinks recruitment should be more tactical. Those with money and influence.

No more tramps or people who fall asleep on the night bus. You had the right idea with Lauren. At least she's easy on the eye," Scarlet frowned. Who was Lauren? "This fella, I think he's on the council or something..." the foreign voice continued.

"Leave him alone." Mitchell said firmly.

"What, you want to share?" demanded the other voice.

"No, I've...I've stopped." Mitchell said resolutely.

"Yeah...We've had this conversation, Mitchell. What blood type is he, anyway? A- positive," Scarlet stiffened as she realised Mitchell was conversing with another vampire. "Hmm. A bit Jacob's Creek-y for me, but there you go." The vampire finished.

"Move away from the bed, Seth." Mitchell's voice was low, warning.

"Remember that student, the guy? When was it '58, '59? Or you and Herrick and that girl in the hotel? Or the couple in the park?" Scarlet felt physically sick to her stomach as she thought of all the people Mitchell had killed. She began to seriously rethink her decision of lingering at the door. "You can't stop, Mitchell. This is what we are. Now, come on. Just a taste. A sip." "I said leave him alone." Mitchell growled.

"Or what? Look at you, when was the last time you fed? You're shaking, sweating. Get into character and watch the door. I've got a job to do." The vampire hissed, and suddenly a loud bang was audible as Mitchell slammed him up against the wall.

"I don't care if the coolest kid in school is suddenly your mate, Seth. Tell Herrick the hospital's out of bounds." Mitchell muttered, voice dangerous.

"A word of warning. One friend to another," said the vampire as he smoothed out the creases in his coat. "It's cold out there without us." Suddenly, he burst through the swinging doors and glared at Scarlet.

"What are you looking at?" he demanded, before stalking away. Scarlet let out the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding, before walking into the room.

"Mitchell?" she asked tentatively. "What was that about?"

"Nothing," Mitchell said, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Just an old friend." Scarlet narrowed her eyes at him, knowing he was lying.

"I heard everything." She told him. He sighed.

"They want me back, but I'm not going."

"Who's Lauren?" Scarlet spat.

"Nobody!" Mitchell said quickly. "Just a woman I used to date."

"And why did you break up?"

"Why do you think?" Mitchell muttered. Suddenly, Scarlet's pager buzzed and she groaned in frustration.

"We'll talk at the house." She told him, before slipping out of the room.

She knew Mitchell would be on his break, so before punching out for the day, she went to the cafeteria to see him. He was in deep conversation with the nurse called Becca, and he seemed to be entirely engrossed in what she was saying, judging by the way he stared at her unblinkingly. She noticed his hand was shaking quite a bit, and scowled as Becca tossed her shiny golden hair. Scarlet had never really been friends with the other nurse, but she had seemed nice enough. Now, as she fawned over Mitchell, Scarlet couldn't help but consider her vapid and shallow. Jealousy curled her stomach, and she wished she could stride over to their table and claim Mitchell as her own for the entire world to see. She had a large possessive streak, and Becca was bringing it out in her. It was too dangerous for people to know about hers and Mitchell's relationship, and so he had to play his part, pretending he wasn't taken by another woman. Scarlet flounced away, running into a frantic-looking George on the way out.

_**BH:UK**_

"Annie, have you noticed anything odd about Mitchell lately?" Scarlet asked tentatively.

"No, I don't think so. Like what?" the ghost asked, handing Scarlet a mug of fresh tea and flopping onto the couch beside her.

"It's probably nothing, I'm just a bit worried about him is all."

"He's a grown man, I'm sure he can take care of himself." Annie said surely.

"Yeah," muttered Scarlet. "You're right." Suddenly the door was thrown open and George sprinted into the room, tearing off his jacket.

"All right, George? What's happening? I thought it was your time of the month." Annie said, leaping off the couch.

"It is," Mitchell said, coming into the room. He immediately began carting fragile items out of the room into the kitchen. "He's doing it here." Scarlet stood and began to help him shift furniture.

"I've just hoovered!" Annie complained.

"George, what do you need?" Mitchell asked.

"Close the curtains so it can't see the windows," George said urgently, and Scarlet hurried to comply. "And, er, put some music on. Loud."

"Good idea. We'll say there's a party going on," Mitchell said, plugging in the stereo and switching it on. "Annie, anything you don't want broken, put it in your room." Annie looked put out. Scarlet was panicking, afraid of what was going to happen.

"What are we supposed to do while he's doing his thing?" Annie demanded.

"Get the hell out." Mitchell hissed.

"Well, can I watch?" Annie asked. George and Mitchell glanced at each other. "I just wanna see what happens."

"This isn't like when you were six, watching your cat have kittens," George began, sounding slightly offended. "It's private."

"Well, you've seen me since I've died. I think the rules of privacy got a bit muddy," Annie said. "Oh, come on. It's not like you can hurt me."

"Maybe she should," Mitchell sighed. George glared at him. "This is what I mean. It's part of you."

"Maybe she can keep an eye on you, make sure you don't do too much damage." Scarlet contributed.

"OK. Erm, keep to the kitchen. Stay out of its line of vision. If it sees you, I don't know what it'll do," George said. "_Aargh!_" he screamed, dropping the ceramic pitcher he was holding. It shattered into a thousand pieces, and Scarlet flinched. "It's coming." George groaned, clutching at his throbbing head. Mitchell grabbed the TV and walked out the door.

"Scarlet!" he barked, shocking her out of her trance as she stared in morbid curiosity at George. She hurried out of the house with a sympathetic glance at George. Mitchell slammed the door shut behind her, before locking it. He carefully put down the television and sat on the doorstep, pulling Scarlet down with him. He zipped the front of his jacket and gathered her against him. She lay her head on his shoulder, sighing contentedly. Suddenly a scream sounded inside the house, louder even than the music Mitchell had put on.

"What's going to happen?" she asked him.

"He'll tear up the living room, make a bit of noise. But he'll be back to himself at dawn," Mitchell said. "You aren't in any danger. I'll protect you." He said. Scarlet snorted derisively, pushing away from him.

"Oh, please. I can take care of myself," She said. "Why is he transforming in the house, by the way?"

"The isolation room beneath the hospital is being renovated. We'll need to find a new place for him to transform after this is all over." Another scream tore through them, and it slowly turned into a mangled, animalistic roar. Suddenly Annie appeared on the doorstep, sitting on the other side of Mitchell.

"He's gone." She whispered. Mitchell nodded and gulped as something was thrown against the window, shattering both. They were in for a long night.

**Thanks for reading, everybody! Don't forget to review!**


	3. Meet the Landlord

**EMBERS**

**Hey everybody! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, we were experiencing some difficulties with the internet and I couldn't get it to work. Anyway, here's another chapter, hope you enjoy it. Thanks to everybody who reviewed and put this on alert!**

_**He had meant to just feed on her, but now he was intrigued. She was fire encased in human form, and in the time they had been together, she had fallen for him. In hindsight, she had given herself too wholly to him. He toyed with her emotions, stoking the embers higher. He forgot that if you play with fire, you'll likely be burned.**_

Somehow, Scarlet and Mitchell had fallen asleep against one another, despite the crashes and roars coming from just inside the house. Annie woke them a little past dawn, when the screams had subsided. They went into the house and were horrified by the destruction that the werewolf had wrought. George was curled on his side, naked, on a pile of wreckage. Mitchell covered his friend with his own coat and carried him to his bedroom while Annie and Scarlet made a start on clearing up the mess. Annie made them all a cup of tea when it was time for a break. Scarlet was grateful for the hot drink, finishing it quickly.

"Could have used a shot of whiskey." She said with a bitter chuckle before returning to work.

"Next time." Mitchell promised with a tired laugh.

"I'd rather not have a repeat of this next month, thank you very much," Scarlet said. "What happens next time? Will he transform here again?"

"I doubt it," Mitchell said. "George will be mortified when he sees what he did."

"Then what will you do?"

"I don't know. With the isolation room out of action, we're going to have to find somewhere safe for him to transform," Mitchell picked up a chunk of what used to be a table. "Somewhere where he can't hurt anybody." Scarlet picked the shredded cushions off the couch, packing them into the black bin bags. It looked like the werewolf had been sharpening his claws on the walls.

"Should we take him up breakfast in bed or anything?" Annie asked. "He's been through a lot."

"Nah, he's fine," Mitchell said. "This happens every month."

"I guess you have more experience in dealing with this than we do," Scarlet admitted, picking up a couple of bin bags of trash. "Where do I put these?" Before Mitchell could answer, the phone rang.

"Shit," Mitchell groaned, picking it up and answering it. "Hello?"

"Who is it?" Annie asked curiously. Mitchell raised a finger, shushing her. "Who?" she demanded. Mitchell covered the mouthpiece of the phone with a hand before he whispered 'Owen'.

"Who's Owen?" Scarlet hissed to Annie.

"My fiancée!" she grinned.

"Uh, today?" Mitchell continued speaking to the landlord. "Actually, today isn't great, do you think we could postpone until-" Annie slammed her foot into his shin with all her strength. "_Ouch! _Actually, today is fine. You'll be round at 10? Great, see you then," He said before hanging up. "Fuck, Annie, that was totally unnecessary." Scarlet lifted the bags of trash again.

"Mitchell? What do I do with these?" she reminded him.

"Uh, Owen will be here in a little under an hour. Just throw them in my room until we can figure something out." He said, and Scarlet started carting the bags into Mitchell's bedroom.

"Hey." Annie said gently as George trundled down the stairs.

"Hi," He responded. "Oh, no... Where's all our stuff? What did it do?"

"We've salvaged what we can. But there's about ten bin bags of crap and wreckage stashed in my bedroom. I'm sensing a trip to IKEA," Mitchell paused to shoot him a glare. "And you know my feelings about that."

"Shut up, Mitchell." Scarlet said, glancing at George apologetically, before returning to her sweeping.

"Look, why don't you guys go out," George offered. "Let me finish up here. It's the least I can do."

"We're kind of on the clock here, Georgie." Scarlet said impatiently.

"What? Why?"

"Owen rang." Annie grinned.

"Owen who?" George asked.

"Owen! Your landlord! My fiancée," Annie paused. "Ex fiancée." She corrected herself.

"He's coming round. In about... Now." Mitchell said, glancing at the wall clock.

"He's coming here? Why?" George demanded.

"He's over from Saudi and wants to meet us." Mitchell explained, draping an orange blanket over the couch to hide the claw marks and lack of cushions.

"Well, you guys are his longest staying tenants. All the others have found it, er, strangely unwelcoming." Annie said innocently.

"Why didn't you put him off?!" George cried shrilly.

"I tried. But she kicked me in the shin!" Mitchell said defensively. "The shin, George!"

"Sorry, can we focus?" Scarlet cried.

"You're not going to be here when he arrives?" George asked disbelievingly, glaring at Annie.

"Of course! Obviously I'll hide, he's not gonna see me," she said, waving off his concern. "Okay. I've written a list of questions for you to ask him." She said, handing Mitchell a small notepad. He flipped it open.

"'Are you screwing Janey Harris?'" he read aloud.

"She always fancied Owen. Trust me, if she'd known when I died, she'd have been here before the ambulance crew." Annie said. Scarlet stifled a chuckle.

"Aww, 'Has my sister had a baby?'" Mitchell continued with a sappy grin.

"Cos they've been trying for ages. I blame her husband, Robin. Works for the Post Office." She confided.

"Oh, my God, has everyone taken Stupid Pills?" George demanded. "This is Annie's ex -Annie's ex, who buried her. She can't be here," he cried, pointing at her. "You can't be within ten miles of here!"

"Well, I can't have him in the house and not see him. For Christ's sake, we were engaged!" the ghost defended.

"And can you imagine, if he sees you? The effect it will have on him, the danger it'll put us all in?"

"This isn't about our safety. You've lost your lover, and now you can't bear the thought of me seeing mine." Annie spat cruelly.

"That's... That's... How dare you?!" George cried.

"Look, if she stays upstairs, what's the worst that can happen?" Mitchell said.

"I'll remind you of that as the crowds gather with torches and pitchforks. No, I'm sorry, we have to protect the household." George insisted.

"_You_ have just smashed up the household!" Annie shouted accusingly.

"It wasn't me..." George whined. "Why don't we ask Scarlet what she thinks?"

"I didn't realise I had a say in what goes on around here." She said.

"Well, you do." George said. Scarlet knew he wasn't awfully fond of her, and figured he'd come to regret those words.

"Well, as long as he doesn't see her, I guess." She said, and George's eyes narrowed at her, but before he could respond, there was a knock at the door.

"Oh, that's that settled. Annie?" Mitchell prompted, and the ghost nodded.

"Okay, and remember...Janey Harris." Annie said before disappearing up the stairs.

"Crazy, you're all crazy..." George cursed as Mitchell went to open the door. "Ask about the clanky tap. No, I will. Just, just, just leave all of the talking to me. Now, remember, we're two guys renting a house, it's, it's the most natural thing in the world. We just have to be totally and completely normal." He squealed.

"Yeah, good luck with that." Mitchell said, before throwing open the door. Scarlet toed a conspicuous pile of wreckage under the couch. She heard them exchanging greetings.

"Nice to meet you, Owen. This is George." Said Mitchell.

"Hi, how's it going?" Asked the attractive brunette, stepping into the house.

"Yes." George responded intelligently.

"I'm Scarlet, nice to meet you." She said, offering him a hand to shake at his questioning look.

"Owen," he said, shaking her hand, grip tight. "Where's all the furniture?" he asked, glancing around.

"Um... Oh, um, we wanted a more, uh, minimalist life. It's so easy to get seduced by all the clutter and debris of 21st-century living, isn't it? Isn't it? To think having this sofa or that, uh, chair will bring you happiness when really, shouldn't we be striving for something more spiritual? More...Zen?" rambled George, Mitchell and Scarlet rocked uncomfortably on the balls of their feet.

"Oh. I thought maybe you were going to redecorate and didn't want to get the furniture all painty." Volunteered Owen.

"Yeah, that would have made more sense." Scarlet said dryly, glaring at the werewolf. Suddenly there was a thump from upstairs.

"George, why don't you go and see what that was?" Mitchell suggested.

"Yes. Thank you, Mitchell." George said, grateful for the excuse to run away. He scampered up the stairs and Scarlet wished she could flee as well.

"Can I get you a drink, Owen?" Mitchell offered. "Tea, coffee, there's a couple of beers in the fridge?"

"Actually I wouldn't mind a beer. I'm still on Saudi time." Owen explained. Mitchell walked into the kitchen.

"Have a seat, Owen," Scarlet said, waving him toward the couch. Owen sank onto the bare springs of the couch. He peeled back the blanket Mitchell and Scarlet had hastily thrown over it and raised an eyebrow at the springs. He shot a quizzical look at Scarlet. "Don't ask." She said with a smirk.

"So, you a friend of Mitchell's?" Owen asked. Scarlet bit her lip, remembering Mitchell's words. They had to pretend there was nothing between them.

"George's, actually." She said. Owen peered at her curiously, and she knew she had taken too long to answer.

"Er, right," Owen said, glancing into the kitchen, where Mitchell was rummaging through the refrigerator. "Anyway, is there anything that needs to be done around the house?"

"I think George mentioned something about a clanky tap in the kitchen?" Scarlet said unsurely.

"Oh?"

"Most of the time it's fine," Mitchell said, handing a bottle of beer to Owen and cracking open one of his own. "Eventually the water comes through, but it's kind of driving George nuts." He chuckled, clinking bottles with Owen with a mutter of 'cheers'.

"No worries, I'll take a look. Like I said, it's such a relief having you guys here. It didn't work out with the last lot of people..." Owen looked at his feet bitterly. "I think they heard about what happened and let their imaginations run away with them," At Scarlet's blank stare, he continued. "You do know? About my fiancée?"

"A little. Just what the estate agent said." Mitchell said before Scarlet could say anything.

"Yeah, I've hardly been back since. You can imagine, it's still kind of weird...being here." Owen said, swigging his beer.

"What happened, exactly? If you don't mind me asking." Mitchell said.

"We'd literally just moved in, we were still living out of boxes. And it was dark, I hadn't sorted out the wiring yet. And she was at the top of the stairs and...I don't know, they said she must have..." Owen seemed to be overwhelmed with emotion, and he took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. "Fallen awkwardly or something..."

"What was she like?" Mitchell asked quietly.

"Annie? Oh, she was kind, funny. Cleverer than she thought she was..." Owen smiled fondly to himself. "And she was mine." Scarlet sobered at the raw emotion in his voice. Out of Owen's view, her arm curled protectively around Mitchell's waist.

"I believe people can leave an echo, in a place where they were," Mitchell began. "I know the tenants before us said they could detect something. Maybe that's what it was."

"They said it was creepy." Owen said, sounding offended.

"It's not creepy. It's good, it's happy. We like it." Mitchell said. Scarlet didn't know what to say, so she remained silent. Suddenly George appeared at the bottom of the stairs, holding a broom.

"What was it?" Owen asked, referring to the thump from earlier.

"What?" George asked, before remembering that he was sent upstairs to investigate the noise. "Oh, um...it was, it was a pigeon."

"A pigeon?" repeated Own disbelievingly.

"Must have left a window open." Scarlet observed, trying to take the attention away from George, who was clearly flustered.

"Well, have you got rid of it?" asked the landlord.

"I-I killed it." George said. Mitchell spat out his mouthful of beer.

"You-you killed it?" he sputtered.

"With a shoe." George said. Mitchell and Scarlet glanced at each other in disbelief. Mitchell's lips glistened with beer, and he hurriedly dragged his sleeve across his mouth before looking back at Owen. The landlord's jaw had dropped, and he stared at George in undisguised horror and disgust.

"You know what?" Owen said, placing his bottle on the ground and standing hurriedly. "I should get going."

"Yeah." Mitchell said in relief with a wry chuckle.

"Really? Aw." George said unconvincingly.

"It was lovely to meet you, Owen." Scarlet said, silently apologising for George's odd behaviour.

"Thanks for the drink. Any problems, phone me." Owen said, making a beeline for the door.

"Yeah. Like I said, we're really happy here." Mitchell said. As soon as Owen was beyond the threshold of the door, Scarlet slammed the door shut and thumped her head against it repeatedly.

"How'd you do that, stay so calm?" Mitchell demanded of the werewolf.

"Okay, shut up." George mumbled, flushing red.

"You're a spy, aren't you? You've clearly had training, because the way you held it together, it was chilling," Mitchell crowed mockingly. Annie sullenly made her way down the stairs, and stopped in front of the bottle on the ground. "He loved you very much, Annie. The way he talked about you... You made him very happy." Mitchell said.

"I'm assuming that's our dead pigeon?" Scarlet said.

"Did you ask about the tap?" George asked. Mitchell glared at them in frustration, silently telling them both to shut up.

"Is this his?" Annie asked.

"What?"

"This bottle," Annie said, still not turning to meet their eyes. "Is it his?"

"Yeah." Mitchell said quietly, wrapping an arm around Scarlet's waist, his own bottle forgotten. Annie lifted Owen's bottle into her arms and pressed her lips to the mouth. Scarlet saw Annie's shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs, and had to restrain the urge to run to her side and comfort her. Suddenly Annie rent-a-ghosted out of the room, leaving Mitchell, George and Scarlet standing, silently mourning everything Annie had lost. Before long, it was time for them to go to work and they readied themselves in silence.

**BH:UK**

Mitchell stood in the closet, waiting like a predator for Scarlet to walk past. As she did, his hand shot out and grasped her arm, yanking her into the closet with him. She giggled, seeing who it was, and slammed the door shut behind them. He pulled her close, winding his arms around her waist and crushing his lips to hers.

"Eager, are we?" she smirked, threading her fingers through his curly hair.

"Shut up." He responded, kissing her deeper. After seeing Owen's despair at losing Annie, he needed Scarlet's reassurance. He buried his face in her shoulder, desperate for comfort that he would never admit to needing.

"Mitchell?" she called unsurely. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he lied. "I just missed you." Scarlet raised a doubtful eyebrow. He pressed their lips together again and suddenly the door was flung open and George burst in.

"George!" they cried in unison.

"What do the two of you think you're doing?" George demanded as Scarlet and Mitchell stumbled out of the closet. "You're lucky it was me and not somebody else!" he frowned at them disapprovingly before tossing a pile of towels at Mitchell. Mitchell fumbled with them to keep them in a neat pile.

"You're right George, we should be more careful." Scarlet said, shuffling away from Mitchell as he tried to wind an arm around her waist while balancing the ever increasing pile of towels with the other arm.

"Yeah, whatever. Listen, I'm going to that thing later, the memorial thing, for Lauren," George said. "You want to come?"

"Um, I don't know..." Mitchell said.

"Come on, it'll be nice. Well, not nice so much as... horrible," George glanced at him suspiciously. "I thought you were friends."

"Not really. A bit. Towards the end." Mitchell admitted.

"What about you, Scarlet?"

"No way, we hated each other." She said, feeling bad for speaking ill of the dead. For some reason, Lauren's name was irritating in her head, as though it were reminding her of something she would rather forget. She was startled out of her thoughts by the arrival of Becca.

"George," she said in greeting. "Hi, Mitchell." She smiled flirtatiously up at him. Scarlet scowled.

"Hello, _Becca._" She said pointedly. The blonde nodded pleasantly at her, but Scarlet was immediately irritated by the 'insincere' smile.

"I need three pillow-cases, please. Mrs Nixon's just vommed up her fisherman's pie." Becca confided. Scarlet's lip curled in disgust and George emerged from the linen closet.

"Thank you for sharing." Mitchell groaned.

"You've changed your shampoo," George observed. "It's minty. Normally you're vanilla-y." Becca frowned.

"How do you know that?!"

"I've just got a good sense of smell." George said flippantly, handing her the pillowcases she requested.

"Erm, do you like it?" Becca asked awkwardly.

"Yes, you smell like a Polo," emboldened by their laughter, George continued. "Have you got a hole?" that comment wiped the grins off their faces.

"I'll, uh, see you later, yeah?" Becca said, intimately brushing past Mitchell. Scarlet's lip curled again.

"Shit, are you interested in her?" Mitchell demanded.

"_No_. I don't know. Why, are you?" George asked.

"Me?" Mitchell gasped. He glanced at Scarlet and saw her disapproving glare. "God, no. I mean, she's nice, but..." Scarlet's eyes narrowed at him with a look that clearly said he was in trouble. "If you're interested in her, I could..." Mitchell trailed off and George shot him a dirty look. "Oh, come on, it's not like you get interested in people every day. I don't want to discourage it."

"She won't be interested in me." George said, waving him off.

"I'll ask. Do you want me to ask?" Mitchell offered.

"No, no! Christ, this is so playground." George squealed, voice even more high-pitched than usual.

"Well, welcome to being a bloke." Mitchell said with a chuckle, and Scarlet rolled her eyes.

"Why are so anxious to pair her off with me?" George demanded defensively.

"I'm not trying to pair you off, that's... That's daft," he paused. "Let me talk to her. You see, I can actually talk to women without weeping or setting fire to myself."

"Okay, _I'll _talk to her," growled Scarlet possessively. "You aren't going anywhere near that cheap little-"

"I don't know," George interrupted before Scarlet could insult Becca further. "Let me think about it."

"Good for you, mate." Scarlet said. She glanced at Mitchell, who appeared to be nursing a trembling hand.

"Oh, yeah...have you seen my phone?" George asked before Scarlet could see to Mitchell.

"No." the pair of them chorused. With that, the werewolf left, pushing a trolley laden with clean sheets and towels.

"Mitchell, are you alright?" Scarlet asked before she could be distracted again.

"Fine," he said, a little too quickly for Scarlet's liking. She moved in to embrace him one last time and he pulled away with a look of panic. "N-no!" he yelped before streaking down the hallway, away from her. She tried to swallow her hurt and confusion, knowing that Mitchell did occasionally blow hot and cold. She would have been mortified to find out that her rejection had been observed by a figure in the shadows.

**DUN **_**DUN DUNNNNNN!**_

**Anyway, I'll have the next chapter up for you as soon as I can. Don't forget to review and tell me what you think of the story. Got any suggestions or criticism? I want to hear it!**


	4. Lauren

**EMBERS**

**Hey everybody! Sorry for the long wait, this chapter came kicking and screaming but luckily I have the next few chapters already written. Thank you so much to Dalonega Noquisi, Zunzun1DTW and kazekrystal for reviewing! (Hint hint everybody else…) and all the people who have favourited. Anyway, enjoy! **

_**He had meant to just feed on her, but now he was intrigued. She was fire encased in human form, and in the time they had been together, she had fallen for him. In hindsight, she had given herself too wholly to him. He toyed with her emotions, stoking the embers higher. He forgot that if you play with fire, you'll likely be burned.**_

Lauren had started working at the hospital a few months before he had, and of all the other employees, she was by far the friendliest. A little too friendly, if you asked George, but Mitchell tended to ignore everything George said about women. Scarlet in particular was incredibly disapproving of the young woman. Lauren had done a lot to make sure that he felt welcome in the hospital, but made no effort to befriend Scarlet. That should have been an easy warning; however Mitchell was too pleased and flattered by her attentions to spurn her. She was an intern in the accident and emergency room of the hospital, and she relished the adrenaline rush that her job gave her. She was like a whirlwind, and Mitchell got swept up in her. His head screamed at him to stay away from her, that she was bad news and he had to remain faithful to Scarlet. However, the vampire in him insisted that he should go with Lauren. He thirsted for blood, and it had been so long since he had drank. Scarlet would never have to know about it. All he needed was a little kick to get him going.

_Do it, _the vampire purred to his conscience. _You deserve it. You've been dry for months._

He was a weak, weak man.

Eventually he gave in to the vampire's prodding, and when Lauren invited him around to her apartment after work, what could he do but say yes? He told Scarlet that he was working late, and went with Lauren.

It was a relief to not have to hold back when he spent the night with Lauren. The vampire waited patiently on the edges of his consciousness, watchful and crouched like a predator waiting for the precise moment to strike at his prey. And strike, he did. The vampire overwhelmed his senses and when he bit into the flesh at her throat, he lapped feverishly, filled with relief. When the vampire slunk back to the recesses of his mind, the relief changed to self-loathing and he sobbed as he regarded the prone form of his victim.

It was imperative that Scarlet never find out he had betrayed her, but he couldn't just kill the young woman. He slit his own wrist and forced it between her lips, her slack jaw hanging loosely. His blood, the blood of a monster, snatched the young woman from humanity at the exact moment between life and death. She became one of his own kind, and, furious with himself, he fled before she could wake into the new world with the cry of a crow.

**BH:UK**

The memorial service was a joke. A pitiful number of her ex-colleagues had amassed outside to observe a ceremonial tree be planted in her memory. Lauren was hidden where nobody could see her, but with a vantage point that allowed her to watch from the shadows, caught somewhere between amusement and sadness. A grey haired minister read passages from the Bible, though the young vampire was too far away to hear his words. Lauren recognized each of the men and women there, but found that she felt rather indifferent to their sadness. She noticed her best friend, with her short blonde hair messy and her eyes glistening with tears of mourning and despair. Lauren laughed aloud at the idea that they mourned her; her, who would live forever, in power and pleasure. She pitied those she had left behind, for they would wither while she would remain untouched by the decay of time. She noticed another beside her friend, a porter that she recognized to be Mitchell's friend George.

The tree was a small sapling, with leaves the colour of blood. It would grow to be tall and strong, but not as strong as her. Now she was invincible. She would outlive the tree that would immortalize her name and memory and she laughed again, a wicked thought occurring to her. When George turned to leave, scrubbing tears from his eyes, she followed him.

**BH:UK**

George splashed cold water on his face, embarrassed by the tears he had shed for a woman he had barely known. Suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder and he whirled around. Behind him was Lauren, and his mind seemed to pause, possibilities and horror flying through his head.

"Boo." She said, as though that was all the introduction she required.

"Lauren?" he demanded.

"Surprise," she smiled at him, but it was that of a predator and held no genuine joy. "Did you enjoy my memorial service? It's a shame Mitchell couldn't make it. Maybe he'll come to yours," she purred. "Aw, your face. This must be really confusing. Let me explain... Before I died I had this one odd last thought. And now I'm gonna make it yours," she stepped closer to him, her lips hovering inches from his. "You know all the things that you were scared of as a kid? All the monsters under the bed? They're all real," her eyes turned black and fangs sprouted from her gums. Sudden understanding rushed through George and he closed his eyes with a defeated sigh. "OK, I'm kind of new to this, but aren't you supposed to, er, weep or scream or wee yourself?"

"_Mitchell did this to you." _It wasn't a question.

"What, you know? You know what he is?" she demanded, smug grin gone. "Wait a sec. Come here," she grabbed his collar and sniffed deeply from his throat. "Oh, my God. A werewolf. Creepy!" she giggled to herself, before stalking away from him with a casual wave over her shoulder.

**BH:UK**

_Mitchell POV_

Scarlet had just finished her duty and was ready to return home. She had stopped to chat to Mitchell before she left, and the pair of them were innocently conversing as he mopped as George stormed up to them.

"Hey Rover!" Scarlet ribbed good-naturedly.

"Hey," Mitchell grinned. "Ooh, there's some bacon in the fridge at home that goes off at midnight." He said, before George shoved him.

"_Guess who I just saw?!" _George demanded, livid.

"Er...Yoko Ono?" Mitchell suggested innocently. George slammed his fist into the middle of Mitchell's face. Scarlet let out a yelp of surprise, and Mitchell loosed a cry of pain as his head spun.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"_Lauren!_" George shrieked. "I manage my condition. I hide in a shitty bloody cellar or the middle of a forest. But you? You buy a bottle of wine and a packet of condoms!" Mitchell's head was still buzzing, but he was vaguely aware of Scarlet looking at him with dawning horror. _No, no, no. _"What is the point of us trying to build some kind of normality when you are attacking our friends and turning them into monsters?" George hissed. Scarlet's eyes were filling with tears and Mitchell immediately felt guilty. "For Christ's sake! We knew her. You let me go to her bloody memorial!"

"How the hell do you think I've survived for the last 100 years?" Mitchell lashed out defensively. "There's no escape from it. I'm not like you, I don't have days off. This is _what I am_."

"Then why are we even trying?" George demanded. Mitchell floundered for a response, but Scarlet spoke before he could.

"_That's _Lauren?!" she cried. "You cheated on me and made her into a vampire to _cover it up?!_" her voice grew in pitch and volume with every word until she was shrieking at him.

"Scarlet, please, you have to understand-"

"Stop!" she spat, looking at him the way he had always feared she would; with palpable disgust. "No more of your lies!" he tried to reach for her but she punched him in the stomach before they could touch. "I can't even look at you right now." George took her hand and led her away from him, and Mitchell stood dumbly, unsure what to do. Suddenly Becca appeared, slipping on the floor he had just cleaned.

"Oh, shit, sorry, can I walk on that? Have you just mopped there?" she yelped, and Mitchell sighed in defeat.

"It's fine."

"So do you want to come out for a drink with me? Yep, I've made a decision, no more procrastination, I've been meaning to do it for ages, but I just kept putting it off… That sounded a lot funnier in the ladies." Mitchell hated the way she babbled on. He stared at her, letting the sound of the beat of her heart fill his ears, engulf him. The vampire paced aggressively in his cell. The heartbeat was slightly elevated, the girl was clearly nervous, for that was what she was to him, a girl. He had lived for over a hundred years by this way of life, and it had always worked for him. His gums ached where his fangs strained to be free.

"What the hell." He murmured, the vampire winning out over his waning humanity.

"Cool! Right, erm, see you later then." Becca said, brushing a strand of irritatingly blonde hair behind her ear and flouncing away.

**BH:UK**

_Scarlet POV_

"That- that _bastard!_" Scarlet sobbed. George patted her awkwardly on the shoulder as she scrubbed angrily at the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I know, Scar." He said tiredly. He pulled her around the corner toward their house.

"What are we doing here?" Scarlet demanded, eying the pink walls suspiciously.

"I'm not leaving you to walk home alone in this state, you're staying the night here."

"But I don't want to see-"

"He wouldn't dare come home after this." George reassured her. He unlocked the door, stepping inside with a relieved sigh. Scarlet glanced around for Annie but didn't see her anywhere. George smiled resignedly at what appeared to Scarlet to be empty air.

"Hello," he said. Scarlet raised an eyebrow at him, seemingly talking to himself. "What?" he spun around and saw Owen with a strange woman and let out a girly scream before wailing a 'hello'!

"George, hi, sorry, we rang the doorbell, no-one answered!" Owen cried, clearly flustered.

"No, no, no, it's, it's fine, it's, erm..." George trailed off.

"I got your text."

"My text?"

"About the tap." Owen clarified.

"The tap?"

"Yeah, George. You texted me. About the tap." Owen said frustratedly.

"Right. The tap. But how silly of me, telling you to come round when I wouldn't be here." George said, glancing to an empty corner of the room. Scarlet glared at the trashy woman hovering behind Owen. She had obviously fake blonde hair and had clearly abused the spray tan bottle.

"Who's the oompa-loompa?" Scarlet asked snidely. The woman gave her a dirty look and opened her mouth to hiss a retort but Owen slipped his hand into hers.

"Er, this is my partner, Janey." He said awkwardly.

"Janey?" Scarlet repeated, narrowing her eyes, remembering Annie's words.

"Harris," the fake blonde said. "Hi."

"Hello." George said as Janey offered them her hand to shake. Scarlet eyed the proffered hand with distaste.

"Are you alright, Red?" Janey asked Scarlet, noticing how red her eyes were and her little sniffles every few seconds.

"Hayfever." Scarlet said curtly.

"I'm going to have to come back later, take a look at the tank in the attic. So when are you not in? I don't want to disturb you." Owen said.

"Well, it's hard to say. There's usually someone here." George said with a half-hearted chuckle.

"OK, well, I'll pop by later in the week?" Owen offered.

"It was nice to meet you." Janey said.

"Yes, nice to meet you too, bye." George said, ushering them out the door hurriedly.

"What was that all about?" Scarlet asked. George ignored her, instead looking sadly over his shoulder.

"Annie…" he said quietly.

"_I just wanted a chance to explain!"_ Scarlet jumped in surprise as Annie's distraught voice echoed in the living room. She glanced around, but couldn't see the ghost anywhere. "_Look, you don't know him! You don't know how he'd react, but I knew! I just, I knew that if, if he saw me again, he'd... But he couldn't see me, and now he's got someone else. And now she gets to kiss him, and watch him shave, and laugh and I'm still in the clothes that I died in. I get nothing._" The ghost wailed. Scarlet heard Annie panting and evidently she calmed down, for the next time she spoke, the tears were gone from her voice. "_She gets him and I get...I get_ _you_." George sank to the ground, apparently beside Annie. Scarlet was concerned, and quietly tried to edge her way out of the room.

"No, Scarlet, stay. You need to hear this too," George said. Scarlet settled comfortably beside him, laying her head on his shoulder. "After I got... After I lost everything, I ran away. I met Mitchell and we came here and met you and... I'd just about come to terms with what'd happened to me, and then I saw her. My ex. And she'd met someone else. And it was so...savage," Scarlet's tears soaked into George's shoulder as she silently wept at the heartbreak in his voice. "So I know how it feels. It feels like losing everything all over again."

"_How did it happen?_" Annie's small voice said.

"We were on holiday in Scotland. The place we were staying was on the edge of this huge ravine, and one night I decided to go for a walk. I've never been so scared. This thing was... Even at the time I remember looking at it and being... offended. That thing in this world, it was so, so wrong." George said with a morbid wistfulness.

_"It attacked you?"_ Annie asked.

"This other guy, another guest tagged along. He was killed. It literally tore his throat and chest out. I was only scratched. I survived."

_"Like me."_ Annie whispered.

"Like you. Hooray for us." George said, patting Annie's shoulder.

"Why do you think Owen couldn't see you?" Scarlet asked. "Why can't _I _see you?"

_"I dunno. Maybe the shock of it was like... Just set me back. Like a relapse? There's just so much of this I don't understand,"_ Annie said. _"So what did you think of her then? Janey?"_ the ghost asked, changing the subject.

"She's... orange." George said tactfully.

_"She works in a tanning salon! She thinks that looks classy!"_ Scarlet giggled at the disgust evident in Annie's voice. _"I think she looks like Kilroy."_

"Well, you're much prettier. And much nicer." George said reassuringly.

_"And much deader."_ Annie said resignedly.

**BH:UK**

"Does that look like a three or a five?" the receptionist asked, brandishing a sheet of paper in George and Scarlet's faces.

"A three." George said.

"Definitely a five." Scarlet claimed. The receptionist raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"That's Becca's handwriting for you," she said off-handedly. "So if she give Mr Davies his meds at three, then he's gonna need 'em again, hm, now. But if she give 'em to him at five, oh, he ain't gonna need 'em till ten o'clock."

"So ask her." Scarlet suggested condescendingly.

"She ain't answering her mobile. Gone out for a drink with your mate." Scarlet and George looked at each other in horror.

"What mate?" George demanded shakily.

"You know. Him with the face."

"The one that could make a nun question her chastity?" Scarlet demanded. The receptionist smirked.

"That's the one."

"Where?" George requested.

"Where did they go?" Scarlet demanded again.

"Christ knows. I would have asked but that would have looked like I gives a shit." The receptionist said, popping her gum obnoxiously.

"George, we have to find them before Mitchell does something we'll all regret!" Scarlet hissed under her breath to George.

"Pretend to be sick, we'll make a break for it." He said. Scarlet casually walked away before dramatically doubling over and throwing her hand over her mouth with a gagging noise.

"Scarlet! Are you all right?" George asked theatrically. Scarlet gave him a dirty look at his blatantly obvious acting.

"I think you'd better go home." The receptionist said.

"I'll take her safely," George said. "Come along, Scarlet."

**BH:UK**

"The one day we don't bring the car," Scarlet cursed as they ran through the back streets. "Wait, there, that's Mitchell's favourite bar." She said, grabbing the neck of George's shirt. They hadn't bothered to change out of their hospital uniforms. "Hey, who's that?" she asked, pointing at a young woman with short-cropped black hair.

"Lauren?" he asked incredulously. "It's me. It's...It's George." They approached cautiously, but before either of them could react, the vampire was holding them both by the throats.

"Bad dog," Lauren said with a smirk. She tossed George to the ground, but held Scarlet aloft with her superhuman strength. "I'm not finished with you yet, human." Scarlet gasped for breath as Lauren's hand constricted around her neck.

"Becca!" she heard George cry, followed by short, urgent gasps. She wasn't given any longer to think about the sounds because Lauren thrust her against the wall. The brunette gave an unearthly scream like that of a bat, and lowered her lips to Scarlet's neck. Scarlet struggled feebly as Lauren's teeth grazed her skin, then suddenly she fell to the ground and her chest heaved as she panted for breath. She glanced up and saw Mitchell holding Lauren's shoulders, pulling her away from Scarlet's prone form.

"Oh, Jesus Christ... Call an ambulance!" he yelled. Scarlet followed his line of sight and saw Becca bleeding profusely from a neck wound, George trying to assist but panicking too much. "Becca, it's okay, it's Mitchell," He said reassuringly, falling to his knees beside Becca and George, who firmly held his balled-up jacket against the puncture wounds in Becca's neck. "Come on, baby, that's it, keep looking at me." Scarlet shook her head to rid herself of the dizziness, and stumbled to Becca.

"Now isn't this a touching scene?" Lauren said with a smirk.

"What did you do to her?!" Mitchell demanded desperately.

"Easy, tiger. What's the problem? You just need to let her drink from you." Lauren said. Mitchell was sobbing as he struggled to help Becca.

"Becca, Becca, keep looking at me. Keep looking at me." He said.

"It's okay, honey, he'll save you. He can make all of this go away…" Lauren said, stalking around the bleeding girl. Scarlet's mouth went dry as she realised Lauren had fed on Becca.

"Mitchell? Can you save her?" George demanded.

"I can't... I can't..." he whispered through his tears. Scarlet narrowed her eyes at Lauren. She was torn between horror at the dying girl on the ground and morbid hope that the vapid blonde would die and leave Mitchell for her. She hated herself for it, and grasped her hand, looking into her fear-filled blue eyes.

"_She's losing consciousness!"_ George wailed.

"You'd better hurry up. She's about two pints away from being an organ donor." Lauren said.

"_Mitchell, DO something! Mitchell!"_

"Not another one... I can't... I can't." he wept, stroking Becca's hair as her eyes drifted shut.

"You did this. You made me this, Mitchell. This is all your fault." Lauren hissed cruelly.

"_I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."_ He repeated over and over, holding Becca's motionless body as the last of her blood left her. Too late, the ambulance arrived, and Mitchell went in the ambulance with her. George and Scarlet climbed into Mitchell's car and hurried to the hospital behind them.

**BH:UK**

"She didn't make it." The paramedic said quietly to Mitchell. Mitchell walked quietly to the seats where George and Scarlet were. George leaned his elbows on his knees and sighed.

"Is this how it ends then? They connect her to you, you to Lauren. Everything gets blown open. We lose it all."

"No. They have ways of doing this."

"What do you mean?" George demanded.

"We've been around for thousands of years. You think this is the first time something like this has happened?" Mitchell glanced at the red-headed police constable. "They've got branches everywhere."

"Let's get home." George sighed, shaking his head. George and Scarlet left to get the car while Mitchell lingered, dawdling behind them. They drove home in silence, Scarlet unsure of what to say to Mitchell and likewise, he knew he could never apologise enough for what he did.

"I'd forgotten what they were like," George muttered, sipping his hot tea and letting the warmth seep into his chilled bones. Annie and he observed Mitchell from the kitchen, watching him stare obliviously at the ground in shame. "The others. They're predators. Every inch of them is just hunger and fury. The energy it must take him, every minute, not to be like that..." Scarlet stared at the tea, wishing for something stronger.

_"Do you think he should have saved her?"_ Annie asked.

"I think he did." Scarlet murmured.

"We should go out." George declared.

_"What?"_

"To the pub. Well, anywhere. It'll do us all good." George said.

"How could you possibly think that was a good idea at a time like this?" Scarlet demanded.

_"Oh, no, I think... I think I wanna stay in the house."_ Annie said, but George ignored their protests.

"Let me put some clothes on and-"

_"No, I want to stay in the house now!"_ Annie exclaimed. George looked hurt and Scarlet was visibly frustrated. _"Oh, look. I'm sorry. I feel safe here. There are monsters outside. When it's just the four of us, it's like none of them can touch us."_

"Okay." George acquiesced. Scarlet stood from her chair and threw her untouched tea down the sink.

"I'll be off, then." She said, shrugging her jacket on and opening the front door.

"No, stay." Mitchell pleaded, not lifting his eyes.

"I think I just want to go home." She said curtly.

"I don't want to be alone." Mitchell said.

"I don't have the energy to get into this with you right now." She hissed cruelly. Mitchell flinched at the venom in her tone and made no move to stop her as she stepped out into the freezing night, slamming the door behind her.

**Questions? Comments? I want to hear them! Don't forget to leave a review!**


	5. Alpha Dog

**EMBERS**

**Hey everybody! Sorry this chapter took so long, my beta abandoned me. It's extra long to make up for it so I hope you all can forgive me. Many thanks to Dalonega Noquisi, i-need-shine, Miranda Pippin and My Name is Anon for their lovely encouraging reviews.**

_**He had meant to just feed on her, but now he was intrigued. She was fire encased in human form, and in the time they had been together, she had fallen for him. In hindsight, she had given herself too wholly to him. He toyed with her emotions, stoking the embers higher. He forgot that if you play with fire, you'll likely be burned.**_

In order to preserve Mitchell's sanity, Annie, George and Scarlet agreed to pretend that the whole fiasco had never occurred. Scarlet knew, however, that at some point she would have to confront Mitchell about what had happened. In the meantime, she plastered on a fake smile for Mitchell's sake. She slowly grew accustomed to hearing Annie's voice without actually seeing her. For days Mitchell did nothing but mooch in his room with a brooding glare and barely spoke to any of his friends, so when he called Scarlet inviting her over for a 'little get-together' he was having, it came as rather a shock.

Scarlet could tell Mitchell was enjoying himself, playing host to his neighbours. He constantly smiled, asking each guest for details of their lives. Scarlet could see that he was enjoying the domesticity or _humanity _that he was experiencing. She struggled to keep an interested expression on her face as she heard story after story from heralding Vin Diesel as a modern hero to the gardening exploits of an elderly woman. After stifling a yawn, she was relieved to hear a knock at the door. Mitchell leapt out of his seat to answer it, foolish grin still in place.

"George! Excellent! Let me introduce you to everyone." He cried, dragging the dirty werewolf into the sitting room. Scarlet glanced at him in sympathy as he let out a rather loud and bewildered "What?!"

"Everyone, this is George!" Mitchell grinned.

"Hello." George mumbled, embarrassed by Mitchell's antics.

"He doesn't bite! Well, only at a full moon!" he winked, and Scarlet sent him a glare, warning him not to put George in a worse position. This is Carol. From number 12. Carol is a keen gardener and a former Miss Isle of Wight!" Mitchell said, pointing at the blonde woman in her thirties. She nodded at George, offering a modest smile. "This is Lee from number ten. Lee has been working away for the last 18 months and knows pretty much all there is to know about Vin Diesel," Mitchell said, pointing at the man with the odd black hair. "For instance, did you know, that before his big break in Pitch Black, Vin Diesel wrote two short films that were entered in the Cannes _and _Sundance Film Festivals?"

"I did not know that..." George muttered, trying to pull away from Mitchell.

"Over here we have Alfred and Joyce, Rory, Imran and Cassie. And they're doing...Media Studies? At the College, and... ooh, get this, right- Cassie only has one kidney. She was born that way. Nobody knows why," he babbled. "Anyway, the rest you'll have to meet for yourself." George smiled awkwardly at them, before chasing Mitchell into the kitchen. Scarlet glanced at Mitchell's guests who all stared back expectantly.

"Uh, I'll go see what's taking them so long." She said, before fleeing into the kitchen with them.

"What are all these people doing in our house?!" George demanded as Mitchell foraged through the cupboards.

"I've been thinking. This whole thing - getting the house - it was to participate, to join humanity. And what have we done? A few trips down to the pub. It's pathetic. This is what being human is about, this is what I chose." Mitchell claimed.

"You chose?" George repeated incredulously.

"We chose. We all chose. We can't just dip our toe, we need to...dive into the churn of humanity. Laugh with them, listen to their stories."

"About Vin Diesel." George deadpanned.

"A remarkable man, I'm starting to realise." Mitchell admitted. Scarlet snorted with laughter as Mitchell emerged from the cupboard with a packet of biscuits.

"It's a bit...risky, isn't it?" George asked.

"What's more suspicious? Three shadowy, secretive people who never come out, never talk to anyone. Or three friendly, welcoming guys, always nice and chatty, their door's always open?" Mitchell said, emptying the biscuits onto a large plate.

"That's a trick question, right?" Scarlet asked. Mitchell waved her off, shoving a biscuit between her lips to shut her up. She spluttered and coughed.

"I don't mean just risky for us." George muttered conspiratorially.

"We should hide in plain sight," he dropped the Star of David into George's open palm. "Stop being ashamed. Invite the world in." Mitchell said, popping a biscuit into his own mouth and carrying the full plate back out to their guests.

"_Hi."_ Annie's voice said. Scarlet flinched at the unexpected noise.

"Hi," George responded, looking at the floor beside the fridge, where a bunch of mugs of cold tea were huddled. Scarlet guessed that's where Annie was sitting. "What the hell has brought this on? Since Becca died, he's barely left his room, barely said a word. Now, and now this?" George demanded. Scarlet sneered at the thought of Becca.

"_Maybe he's had a blow to the head."_ Annie said.

"I'm sorry?"

"_Happened to my nan. She got hit in the head by a radio controlled plane at a county fair. From that moment, obsessed with pygmy goats."_ She said absentmindedly.

"There wasn't a single bit of that sentence I understood," George confessed. "Can they even see you?"

"_Just you and Mitchell. Supernaturals, not humans," _Scarlet bit back an offended retort when she saw how upset Annie was. _"Since I saw Owen, I'm... I'm not here. I'm past tense."_

"We have to put a stop to this. Doesn't he understand, these people are British? You're not allowed to talk to your neighbours until you've nodded at them for 15 years." He hissed.

"I think he's forgotten we're not back in Ireland." Scarlet said.

"Just look at them. This must be absolutely terrifying," Suddenly George's eyes widened and he stared at a creepy-looking middle-aged guy wearing a fedora. "Oh, my bloody God." He cursed, before running out of the room and dragging him out by the collar.

"_Hey, Scar."_ Annie began.

"What's up?"

"_How are you doing?"_ Annie said. Scarlet saw the chair across from her be pulled out by an invisible force as Annie sat. _"After the whole Becca thing, I mean."_

"How do you think?" Scarlet chuckled wryly. "My lovely boyfriend cheated on me twice, in order to feed on innocent women."

"_Well, at least it wasn't because he was falling in love with them?"_ Annie said good-naturedly. Scarlet giggled.

"You've got a point there," she began, sipping at the tea Annie had made her earlier. "But the first girl, what was her name, Lauren? Yeah, Lauren," she glanced at Mitchell in the sitting room, who was having the time of his life entertaining the neighbours. "I just can't help but feel like she'll be back, you know? I remember her from the hospital, she followed Mitchell around like a lost puppy."

"_What is it with Mitchell and nurses?" _Annie sighed.

"I have no idea, but he's managed to kill two out of three of us," Scarlet said quietly. "I don't plan on letting him finish that hat-trick. He needs help."

"_What are you going to do?"_

"I have no idea."

By the time Scarlet had finished conversing with Annie, all of Mitchell's many guests had departed, except for one. He was middle aged, heavily tattooed, and wore a tracksuit and fedora hat. He introduced himself as Tully, a werewolf. George, Annie and Scarlet crowded onto the couch to listen to his story while Mitchell sprawled on the floor.

"I've been hitching round the South, sleeping rough... transforming in the countryside," Tully said. Annie was leaning forward, engrossed in his tale. Mitchell was sitting up straight, beer poised halfway to his lips. George looked severely put out, pointedly ignoring Tully. "Anyway, couple of months ago, I find these clothes in the forest, all folded neatly, and I think, 'that's odd', and it was the day after a full moon, so my senses were still pretty sharp. And there's no mistaking that scent. So I spent the next couple of weeks in the library, looking over the local newspaper websites."

"_What were you looking for?"_ Annie asked.

"Animal attacks. Anything like that. And I'm about to give up...when there it is. Gazette. 2007. 'Tourists attacked by wolf.' So now I've got a name. I had a pretty good sense of the places he was using to transform, and it was just a case of biding my time." Tully explained, eyes fixed on Scarlet. She huddled closer to Mitchell, uncomfortable with his gaze caressing her.

"_Oh, so you've been sleeping rough?"_ Annie asked.

"Well, now and again someone will offer me a bed. Though that usually means sharing. The earth my pillow, my canopy the stars." Tully said.

"_Oh, I'd like to see George living like that. He had a panic attack in The Eden Project."_ Annie confided with a conspiratorial smile.

"The freedom is addictive. Though it can be hard sometimes, you know? You know, what you've got here, yeah? This... this sanctuary...I don't know. Sometimes

I'm my own worst enemy," he smiled flirtatiously at Annie now. "Tully is as Tully does." Annie began to giggle like a schoolgirl.

"Why are you laughing?" George asked.

"_I have no idea!"_

"I don't mean to stare, but I've seen people like you before, people who've passed over. But never so solid, so vibrant. You're not like a ghost...You're more like..." Tully trailed off.

"A zombie?" Annie chuckled self-deprecatingly.

"I was going to say an angel," Tully murmured intimately. Scarlet pretended to gag, and Mitchell covered a chuckle with a false cough. "Can I ask you a question?" Tully asked, eyes on the vampire.

"Please."

"There's not many vampires that would break bread with a werewolf." Tully said.

"I'm lapsed."

"Oh. 'A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he's really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.' Proverbs, 27:19. Or something like that," Mitchell looked at him uncertainly, flinching at the words from the bible. "Lapsed Catholic," Tully said by means of explanation. "What about you then?" Tully asked, nodding at Scarlet.

"I'm sorry, me?"

"You're a human. I can smell it on you."

"Good detective work, Scooby Doo." She scoffed. Mitchell elbowed her warningly.

"I just meant that it's unusual for a human to feel comfortable around supernaturals." Tully said.

"They are my friends, why should that change anything?" Scarlet asked, intercepting Mitchell's beer and taking a swig.

"There's an uncommon opinion for a human," Tully remarked. "Are you sure you aren't a supernatural?"

"My father used to call me Phoenix?" she suggested with a grin.

"_Don't be silly, Scar, phoenixes don't exist."_ Annie said.

"Neither do ghosts, vampires or werewolves." Scarlet said pointedly.

"_Touché."_

"So, Tully," Mitchell began, gulping down the rest of his beer before Scarlet could finish it. "Where are you sleeping tonight?"

"In the arms of Mother Nature, as always." Tully responded.

"Is just saying 'outside' really that hard?" George demanded.

"Why don't you stay with us?" Mitchell suggested.

"What?!" George cried.

"Just for a couple of days. The sofa is the best we can offer, but it's warm and there's tea and a telly," he offered. "What do you think, Annie?"

"_Mmm."_ She said. Scarlet could practically hear the foolish grin that accompanied the word.

"I wouldn't wanna impose..." Tully said, but his face said the opposite.

"No? Fair enough."

"_You wouldn't be, you wouldn't be."_ Annie insisted.

"Well, I am fighting a cold..."

"Well, fresh air's the best cure..." George said desperately.

"Then it's settled. Who wants another beer?" Mitchell said, standing up. Tully put his hand in the air.

"_So...how long have you been a werewolf then?"_ Annie asked conversationally. Scarlet and George stood and followed Mitchell into the kitchen.

"What the hell are you doing?" George demanded of the vampire.

"Getting us all a few more beers." He said innocently. Scarlet cocked a brow at him.

"Mitchell."

"I've told you. We need to embrace humanity. Let the world in." Mitchell defended.

"Yeah, but he isn't human!" George cried.

"Well, in that case, neither are you." Mitchell said.

"It's Annie I'm thinking of. She's very low at the moment, very...very vulnerable. Having Tully here is putting her under a lot of strain already, you can see it," they all peered into the sitting room to see Annie laughing and wearing Tully's hat. "This whole... no, er, er, er, I've changed my mind. The deal, the deal's off." George muttered to himself.

"What deal?" Scarlet asked curiously.

"He said he can show me ways to manage the condition. And in return I said I'd let him meet you guys." George said, rubbing his eyes.

"But that's great!" Mitchell grinned.

"It's not great, because now it's here. Isn't it bad enough this thing happens to me once a month, can't I have somewhere I can hide from it?" George whined.

"You get to hide for 27 days out of 28. That's pretty good going from where I'm standing." Mitchell said, a frown creasing his brow.

"You know what this is? You've forgotten what it's like to see your own reflection. To be faced with yourself, what you are, every day. Mitchell, the house is my way of coping. I want to close that door. I'm allowed to close that door and forget!"

"I can't even believe we're having this conversation. If someone could teach me ways to control what I am?!" Mitchell shook his head. "Jesus Christ, I'd jump at the chance." George stormed out of the kitchen leaving Mitchell to sigh exasperatedly.

"I'm sorry, Mitchell, but I'm with George on this one," she said, helping him with the beers he was struggling to hold. "He's creepy."

"You just don't like strangers," Mitchell said, kissing her forehead. "Before long, you'll be treating him like a member of the family, you'll see."

"I doubt it," she mumbled. "Is nowhere safe?"  
"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you met the new nurse yet? The one that's replacing Becca?" Mitchell stiffened at the mention of Becca's name.

"I can't say I've had the pleasure, myself," George said. "What about you, Mitchell?"

"No." he muttered.

"She's practically psychotic," Scarlet grumbled. "Wait til you meet her."

**BH:UK**

"And you can stop right there," The new ward sister said as George wheeled an elderly patient into the ward. "Who's this?" Scarlet glanced over at them from where she stood, shuffling through papers.

"Um, Mrs James?" George said, uncertain of why the diminutive blonde seemed angry.

"Uh huh. And she is on my ward because?" the ward sister demanded.

"Dr Newell in A&E said it was all arranged." George defended.

"Hi, Mrs James?" the ward sister said, tone entirely different, friendly. "Mrs James. I'm Nina, I'm the acting Ward Sister. Look, I'm gonna get, uh,_ Scarlet _here,"Scarlet dropped what she was holding and darted over to take the old lady away in her wheelchair. "To make you a cup of tea, just while I sort all this out, all right?" Scarlet hurried away, keeping an ear open to eavesdrop on George and Nina's conversation.

"Here's the thing. Dr Newell is a cock. This has been proven by scientists," Scarlet sputtered in laughter, spilling sugar across the bench. "Look we haven't got any beds, OK? He knows this because he called me and I told him we haven't got any beds. But see, he's gone ahead and discharged her from A&E and sent her here anyway. By now somebody else will be in Mrs James's bed leaving her, as they say, 'without portfolio'."

"So where do I take her?"

"What's your place like?" the blonde demanded.

"What?!" George cried shrilly, alarmed.

"I don't know, it could be the start of something. She's has a twinkle." Scarlet stirred the tea, biting her lip to keep from laughing aloud.

"I... I can't take her home..."

"Tip for the future, right? If you ever think a doctor is lying, check if their lips are moving. Look, just turn around. Walk away. I will sort this." Nina hissed, sounding frustrated.

"Look, look I, I'm sorry if..." George stuttered, feeling defeated.

"How long have you worked here?" Nina demanded.

"About a year."

"Oof, then you should know better," she said, shaking her head and storming toward Scarlet. "Move, I'll take care of this." Nina took Mrs James down the hallway and Scarlet went to George's side.

"So, how do you like her?" she asked teasingly. George let out a huff and turned on his heel, storming in the other direction.

**BH:UK**

Mitchell looked tired as he frantically patted down his pockets in search of his keys. He rummaged around in the sofa and found his keys sandwiched between the cushions. He grinned in triumph, and kissed Scarlet's cheek goodbye, promising to be home in time to watch The Real Hustle. He opened the door and staggered backwards in shock. Scarlet arched a brow and hid in the kitchen to watch. She saw a woman dressed all in black. She recognized her from the hospital bulletin board, it was Lauren, the woman Mitchell had turned.

"Morning," she sang. "You...gonna let me in? You have to invite me across the threshold. That is such a mental rule. Who made that up?"

"You...you are not coming in here." He hissed.

"Yeah, I think I am, because I don't think you want this conversation happening on your doorstep," Lauren threatened. "Hiya, how's it going?" she called, waving to an old woman across the street.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, come in." he groaned, grabbing her and hauling her into the house.

"Ooh, this is nice. I like the open-plan thing, very 70s." she said casually.

"When will you leave me alone?" he demanded, shoving her against the wall and holding her by the throat.

"Mitchell...Jesus, I can't breathe. You're killing me..." Lauren appeared to pass out and Scarlet frowned. "Oh, no wait, you already did that," Mitchell groaned, raking his hand through his hair. "I know what this is about. You're still pissed off with me for killing your friend."

"She was 20 years old." He growled.

"So was I," she responded bitterly. "Are you planning on letting me go? Only, this is quite expensive." Mitchell turned away from her in exasperation and she rubbed nervously at her throat. Scarlet raised an eyebrow, ducking further behind the wall just in time to avoid being seen by Lauren.

"What are you doing here? Herrick's cut me off from the rest of the vampires." Mitchell said.

"Why does this have to be about Herrick? You're obsessed with each other, it's totally gay." Lauren cried.

"So what do you want?" Mitchell demanded.

"I miss you," Lauren admitted. "I've been thinking about the night you took me. How we barely made it to my bed. And how...at first, it hurt... and I was frightened," Lauren backed him up against the wall, his eyes clouding over with lust. Scarlet was frozen with fury. "But then afterwards, everything, all the world, as sharp as a pin. And the blood, Mitchell. Can you remember the taste? So rich and warm. You can have it again. As much as you want." Lauren continued. Scarlet scowled as she saw Lauren stroking Mitchell through his jeans.

"I... I... I can't. The cost is too high." He groaned, hating his body for betraying him.

"Please!" Lauren cried in exasperation. "Who are you saving, really? Have you seen Britain's Got Talent? Besides, we don't need to feed, we can just...play." she murmured in his ear.

"I'm not very good at keeping them separate." Mitchell confessed, a catch in his throat.

"So you're a monk now as well?" Lauren demanded.

"This isn't something you come to a compromise about. I chose humanity." Mitchell cried.

"Yeah, I want to believe you, I really do. It's just when you look at me...you're hungry." Lauren said. Scarlet finally snapped.

"Okay, back up, skank!" she snarled, shoving Lauren away from Mitchell.

"Get out..." Mitchell insisted. Lauren struggled in Scarlet's grip as she wrestled her outside.

"Just let it take you, Mitchell...give in to it!" she laughed.

"I said GET OUT!" Mitchell cried. Scarlet threw Lauren out the door and slammed it shut. Mitchell put his back against the door, shutting his eyes tight.

"You don't get it, do you? It's like Hotel California. You can check out, but you can never leave." Lauren cried from outside.

**BH:UK**

"This has to stop. I cannot do another conversation about Vin Diesel." George moaned, shutting the door resolutely.

"You just need to get him onto another subject." Mitchell reasoned.

"I've tried! Leonard Cohen, Darcy Bussell- it's like he isn't interested!" George cried helplessly.

"Poets and ballerinas aren't as interesting to the rest of us as they are to you, Georgie." Scarlet smirked.

"It's good we're doing this. Especially now- throwing the doors open like this, it sends a message." Mitchell said, piling the dishes into manageable stacks.

"What do you mean, 'especially now'?" George asked.

"Nothing. It, er, came out wrong." Mitchell said shiftily. Scarlet raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"And sends a message to who? Is there something you're not telling us?" George demanded. Scarlet remembered Lauren's unexpected visit and realised what Mitchell meant.

"Like what?" Mitchell asked, trying to look innocent.

"A few weeks ago Tully was in London and got attacked by some vampires." George began.

"Vampires are arseholes. This is hardly news." Mitchell said grumpily.

"Yes, but Tully says it's happening more and more. Like suddenly they've stopped hiding. But it's the things they're saying now. About time…" George paused dramatically. "How their time is coming."

"Vampires have been saying 'their time is coming' since the Crusades. Every now and then someone gets everyone all excited... It never comes to anything."

"_So something has been happening?"_ Annie asked.

"It's nothing! It's nothing, I promise you," Mitchell glared at their disbelieving expressions. "I need to pee."

"Well. I feel totally reassured." George mumbled. Scarlet chewed her lip thoughtfully, before picking up a stack of plates and following Mitchell toward the kitchen.

_Mitchell POV_

The bathroom was occupied when he got there. A woman was hunched over the sink.

"Oh, hello." The strawberry blonde said. She held her bloodied fingers in the sink, and grinned flirtatiously at Mitchell.

"Hello. Who are you?" he asked.

"Hannah. I'm, er, with Suzie."

"Who's Suzie?"

"She lives at number eight. You knocked on her door, said you were having people over." Hannah said, turning back to the sink.

"Right...Only, everyone's gone."

"Has Suzie gone?" Hannah asked.

"They've all gone. How long have you been up here?"

"OK, so what happened was, I cut my finger and the guy you live with, the one who was running round putting coasters under everything, told me there were plasters here. And then I felt a bit woozy so..." Mitchell zoned out, staring at Hannah's bloody finger, captivated by the red liquid oozing from her hand. "Are you OK? Is it- ah, is it the blood?"

"Oh, er, what did you do?" he asked, shaking it off.

"I volunteered to cut some cake. which was, in hindsight, an error. Oh, it's right on the foldy bit. It's taking forever to heal," she scanned herself in the mirror and Scarlet appeared at the door beside him, holding a pile of dishes. "There's, er blood on my t-shirt. Do you think I should take it off and run it under the tap?" Scarlet scowled.

"Why don't we get you downstairs and find you a plaster or something?" Mitchell said, shepherding her out of the bathroom and pulling the plug, letting the blood slip down the drain.

"Good job." Scarlet murmured in his ear as she passed.

Annie and Mitchell sat on the front step, drinking tea and talking. It was almost as if things were back to normal… _almost._

"Oh, George- you know the isolation room you were using to transform in?" Mitchell said as George tried to pass.

"Yeah- now the site office for the building work." He responded, leaning on the wall beside Annie and Mitchell.

"Health and Safety said it's not suitable. Too remote and no windows. The site officer kept bursting into tears every time he went down there." Mitchell said, puffing on his cigarette.

"So?"

"So after next week you can start using it again, to transform in." Mitchell said.

"Oh, I don't know, I think I'm better off curled up in the lap of Mother Nature." George said.

"Right," Mitchell said. "Wait, what?"

"_I thought you've always said changing out in the open is dangerous."_ Annie said.

"Look. Don't try to understand George." George said.

"_George? George who?"_ Annie asked, confused.

"Me!" George cried. Scarlet came out the door with her tea, sitting down beside Mitchell and tugging the cigarette from his fingers, dropping it to the ground and putting it out with the toe of her shoe.

"So, Carol from number 12-"  
"Miss Isle of Wight!" George said, proud of himself for remembering.  
"_Oh yes, Miss I want to work with children and I have a big stupid face!" _Annie said in a false soprano._  
_"What?" Mitchell asked.

"_Nothing."_ Annie muttered.

"What is it with you and blondes?" Scarlet chuckled.

"Anyway, she'ss gonna lend us Casablanca." Mitchell mentioned.

"Why?"

"I'm only in it!" Mitchell grinned.

"_Get out!"_ Annie cried.

"Yeah! I'm just an extra. In the bar. And you can't actually see me, obviously. But I do knock over a chair at one point and you can see that."

"_You were in Casablanca?! How'd you swing that?" _Annie demanded with a grin.

"I know people. I move and shake."

"I can think of better ways to spend an evening than watch how you knocked a chair over 60 years ago." George sneered.

"_Oh, you've changed your tune. You love old movies."_ Annie said.

"Hey, George is as George does."

"Did you really just say that?" Mitchell demanded disbelievingly. "Did you actually say those words?"

"_Oh, my God. You're Tully's Mini Me!"_ cried Annie.

"Yes!" Mitchell grinned, and they all burst into uproarious laughter before George stormed away in a huff. Suddenly a man Scarlet recognised as a neighbour who had elected not to come to Mitchell's psychotic gathering stormed up to him and pointed an accusing finger.

"Did you grab my wife's ass as she was putting out the rubbish?" he demanded.

"Did I what?" Mitchell asked.

"And when she told you to piss off you said there's plenty more where that came from and if she wanted a bit o' doggy style she could come over any time she wanted? She said it was a bloke who lived here!" Mitchell rose to his feet uncertainly.

"Oh, mate, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking ab-" realisation crossed his features and he grinned with withheld laughter. "Doggy style. Okay, I think I know what's happened here-" suddenly the man slammed his fist into Mitchell's face, and he fell to the ground. The man stormed away in fury and Mitchell staggered to his feet with a dazed expression. Scarlet and Annie burst into laughter as Mitchell glared at them darkly. They ignored his chagrined expression and continued to howl with laughter, spilling tea with their shaking hands.

**Thanks for reading! The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update so get reviewing!**


	6. Confrontation

**EMBERS**

**I'm so sorry this chapter was so long in coming! School got hectic and I had no time to write. Thank you to Dalonega Noquisi, ForAslan, My Name is Anon and Scarf the Squid for their lovely reviews, you're all wonderful! Also thanks to everybody who favourited and alerted. In this chapter, we have the much anticipated confrontation between Scarlet and Mitchell. Enjoy!****  
**

_**He had meant to just feed on her, but now he was intrigued. She was fire encased in human form, and in the time they had been together, she had fallen for him. In hindsight, she had given herself too wholly to him. He toyed with her emotions, stoking the embers higher. He forgot that if you play with fire, you'll likely be burned.**_

By the time Scarlet thought to go home, it was dark so she spent the night in Annie's room. She didn't have work that day, so she slept in late and by the time she emerged, Mitchell and George had already gone to work. Scarlet stepped down the stairs, peeking around the corner into the kitchen, where she heard voices.

"I never see you out of those clothes." Tully was saying, leaning over Annie in an intimidating manner.

"_Oh, erm...They're what I was wearing the night I..."_ she made a throat-slitting motion. _"It's just as well I wasn't in a Star Trek costume...or, you know, dressed... as a...squirrel..."_ she rambled, clearly uncomfortable. Tully put his hand on her arm and squeezed.

"Ooh, you're all... squishy. You're cold. You're like snow."

"_That, that actually hurts." _She said.

"How can it hurt?"

"_Owen."_ Annie said warningly.

"What?"

"_Er- Tully. Please. That-that hurts."_

"I'm just messing with you, kid." He grinned.

"_Er, so, what do you want?"_ Annie asked.

"Company. A kind word. Respect." He muttered.

"_Oh. You have those things."_ Annie said kindly.

"Ah, what I have is a lumpy sofa, balls like concrete and a corpse giving me mixed signals," he said huskily. "Your face. I told you, I'm just messing with you! Though you have got Tully's imagination working overtime..." his hand moved and it looked as though he were stroking her arm, though Scarlet couldn't actually see the ghost. "I'm wondering what else you could feel."

"_Oh, erm, no, no, actually it didn't hurt. It's more like, I saw you holding my arm and it felt like it should hurt. So, er, could you...would it be possible if you just moved back, just a little bit?" _Tully had apparently backed her up against the fridge.

"Could you feel a kiss?" Tully asked.

"_Oh, I don't know, erm..."_

"Could you feel a fuck?" he asked.

"_Oh, gosh! This is making me feel very uncomfortable now."_ Annie cried.

"Then I think it's about time we went upstairs," he said, lips moving closer to the fridge. Scarlet heard a tiny gasp of fear, and Tully fell against the fridge, muttering "Shit," under his breath. It was obvious Annie had rent-a-ghosted out of the kitchen.

"What the hell was that?" Scarlet demanded.

"Oh, look at you, little spitfire!" Tully grinned like a predator.

"Don't give me that look," She hissed. "Stay away from Annie."

"Oh, I don't need Annie while you're here, darling." Tully said smugly.

"Back up, Tully. You're out of line."

"You're the one who's been flirting shamelessly with me for weeks, right in front of your undead boyfriend, and I'm the one who's out of line?" he asked, laughing. He advanced on her, backing her into the wall.

"Fuck off." she hissed, before he crushed his lips to hers. She squealed as he shoved his tongue into her mouth, then struggled harder, grasping at his throat. He bit down hard on her lip and she shoved him back far enough to punch him in the nose. He fell to his knees, hands flying to his newly broken nose. Blood gushed out and he screamed.

"Bitch!" Scarlet ignored him, spitting into the sink.

"Ugh, you probably gave me rabies!" she hissed, storming out of the house. "Damn, I wish I could rent-a-ghost."

"Annie? Annie, come back!" Scarlet cried, roaming the street outside the house.

"_I need to get to the hospital, I need to see my friend!" _Scarlet could hear Annie's hysterical sobbing and made her way towards the sound of crying. Ice engulfed her torso as Annie wrapped her arms around Scarlet, burying her face in her neck.

"It's okay, Annie, I'm here." Scarlet soothed, rubbing the ghost's back, stomach turning in revulsion at the unnatural squishing sensation under her fingers.

"_He scared me." _She muttered, sniffing back tears.

"He scared me too," Scarlet admitted, pulling away from the embrace.

"_What, did he go after you too?" _Annie demanded.

"It's fine, I rearranged his face a little." Scarlet chuckled wryly. Blood beaded on her lip where Tully's teeth had scraped her.

"_Dare I ask?"_

"I'd really rather you didn't." she winked.

"_What do we do?"  
_"Let's just get out of here, wait for Mitchell to get home." Scarlet suggested, and they wandered away from the house. They inevitably gravitated toward the hospital and intercepted Mitchell as he exited.

"Scar, what are you doing here? I thought it was your day off?" he asked. "Annie, why are you out here?" he noticed the tear tracks running down her face.

"We had a bit of a problem at home." Scarlet said when Annie remained silent.

"What did Tully do this time?" Mitchell demanded.

"_H-He tried to…" _Annie trailed off.

"He tried to kiss her." Scarlet explained.

"_Which isn't something I encouraged him to do." _Annie said.

"Bastard!" Mitchell cried.

"_He forced himself on Scarlet as well."_

"What?!" Mitchell demanded.

"I broke the bastard's nose." She said with a sheepish grin. Mitchell noticed her swollen lip and brushed it gently with the pad of his thumb.

"Did he hurt you?" he asked quietly.

"Bit me pretty hard," she said ruefully. "It's fine, really, I hurt him more."

"Serves him right." Mitchell said as his thumb came away wet with blood. He kissed the corner of her mouth, soothing the angry flesh. Annie cleared her throat awkwardly.

"_Sorry, but what are we going to do about him?"_

"I'll get rid of him," Mitchell said. "He won't hurt either of you ever again."

**BH:UK**

"Time to go." Mitchell said warningly, aggressively throwing Tully's hat at the werewolf.

"I thought my ears were burning," Tully grinned. Scarlet noted with some satisfaction that he had a black eye and his nostrils were crusted with blood. "Well, what if I don't wanna go?"

"I wasn't offering a choice." Mitchell said, looming over him. Annie lingered in the doorway, peeking around the doorframe.

"George got a say in this?" Tully asked, jumping to his feet.

"I'll talk to him." Mitchell said.

"Do." Tully said confidently. Suddenly George swung the door open.

"What's going on?" he demanded, immediately sensing the tension in the room.

"Tully's leaving." Mitchell stated, glaring at him.

"What? Why?" George cried, spinning around to look at Tully questioningly.

"I wish I could tell you, mate." He said.

"OK, I know it was my suggestion but it was only going for a day or so and instead it's been weeks, so I think now's the time-" Mitchell was cut off by Annie wailing.

"_He's creepy. And he frightened me."_

"Yeah. I- I was building to that." Mitchell said, glancing at the ghost.

"Creepy?!" George cried disbelievingly. "You're dead!"

"Look, he stinks out the bathroom, he eats all the food-"

"Oh, that's nice. That's generosity." George scoffed.

"He's upset Annie, he forced himself on Scar, he's pissing off the neighbours, he's..." he glanced at Scarlet for inspiration. "He's a twat!"

"Well, he's MY twat." George cried. Scarlet, Annie and Mitchell recoiled in a mixture of disgust and amusement.

"I expect that sounded better in your head." Mitchell noted, fighting to keep a grin off his face.

"I mean...he's my friend." George clarified.

"So what the hell are we?!" Mitchell demanded.

"I don't know, Mitchell, I really don't." George said.

"Look, I don't want to cause any trouble, maybe I should-" Tully was interrupted by George.

"Stay where you are," he hissed before turning on Mitchell. "Why haven't you helped me? Why is it Tully who's showing me how to manage my condition?"

"You can barely admit you have a condition!" Mitchell scoffed.

"Why is it _Tully_ showing me how to talk to women?!" George demanded.

"Showing you how talk to women? What are you, twelve?" Mitchell cried incredulously.

"You know the difference between you and him?" George asked.

"Hmm, I don't know, I don't have to shave my palms?" Mitchell replied. Scarlet bit back a bark of laughter.

"I- I think that's actually racist!" George cried.

"Oh, _shut up!_" Mitchell groaned.

"He wants me to be myself. He wants me to be strong and independent."

"Turning you into his clone doesn't make you independent." Mitchell hissed.

"Well, you would know all about turning people into monsters!" George shouted. Mitchell recoiled, visibly hurt. It was obvious George had struck a nerve, and Mitchell lashed out.

"Oh, for Christ's sake! He assaulted Scarlet and Annie!"

"And I bet they loved it!" George howled. Scarlet heard Annie gasp.

"No, I can tell you that I very much _didn't _love it." Scarlet spoke for the first time.

"Come on, it's not like you're getting any from Mitchell!" George said. It was a barbed comment, meant to inflict pain. Mitchell and Scarlet looked horrified. There was a pregnant pause as they stared at him.

"What's happened to you?" Mitchell asked quietly.

"He stays. My choice," George said, grabbing Tully's arm and storming out the door. "Come on." Tully put his hat on and followed, a gleeful grin on his face.

"I think I'm gonna like it here." He said smugly. Scarlet heard the pounding of feet on the staircase and assumed Annie was fleeing. Mitchell nodded at her, and then took off up the stairs in pursuit of the ghost. Scarlet let out a defeated sigh and flopped onto the sofa, stretching out. She was too tense to relax. She concentrated on making her breaths deep and even, and had just calmed herself down when Mitchell appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Heads up," Mitchell began casually, dropping to the sofa beside Scarlet and throwing an arm carelessly over her shoulders. "I accidentally kissed Annie," she glared at him and he held his hands up in surrender. "I went in for a hug and bumped into her, it wasn't my fault!"

"Did you _bump _into Lauren as well?" she spat acidly. Mitchell recoiled from her, hurt crossing his features.

"I-"

"And what about _Becca, _Mitchell? Is that all you wanted from her, a _hug?_" she hissed. Mitchell's dark brows drew together and he frowned, unused to her acidic tone.

"Why are you-"

"I've played along with this sick little game of 'House' for _weeks_, pretending everything was fine, and I'm sick of it!" She stood up and paced furiously as she shouted at him.

"Where is all this coming from?" he demanded.

"You _cheated _on me, Mitchell!" she cried.

"I-I don't-" Mitchell sputtered. "I mean, I…" Scarlet continued to glare at him. "What do you want from me?!"

"I want an explanation, Mitchell!" she cried. "Why would you do something like this?!"

"I didn't mean to hurt you, you weren't supposed to ever find out."

"Well that makes everything so much better!" Scarlet snarled sarcastically.

"I didn't want to cheat on you, I was just going to feed on them." He said bluntly.

"I thought you were trying to stop this! I thought you were dry!"

"I am, I have been for such a long time. You don't know what it's like!" Mitchell wailed.

"Explain it to me then." Scarlet challenged.

"I can remember all of them, all of the people I've killed. The longer I stay dry, the worse it is," his eyes filled with tears. "I can see all their faces!"

"You said I kept you strong, so why would you do this?" Scarlet asked, realising her own face was wet with tears as well.

"I couldn't help myself." He muttered.

"What am I supposed to do, act like it's all okay?"

"Please, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know, and that's the only reason I'm still here." She muttered.

"Scarlet, give me one more chance, I'll do anything." Mitchell pleaded.

"I can't leave you now, not when you're desperate and vulnerable," she cursed. "You'd go back to killing, I know you would."

"So you'll stay with me?"

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" Scarlet said bitterly.

"Thank you," Mitchell breathed, kissing her. "I promise, this will never happen again."

"It had better not, or I'll castrate you then boil your eyeballs and string them onto your intestines for a necklace." She said, rather creatively Mitchell thought. He kissed her again, before pulling her into his arms. She sat stiffly, uncomfortable in his embrace. Perhaps Mitchell was ready for things to go back to normal, but Scarlet wasn't. It would be a while before she had truly forgiven him.

**BH:UK**

The morning after the full moon, Mitchell, Annie and Scarlet sat around on the sofa, waiting impatiently for George's return. When they heard him enter the living room, they rushed to the door to greet him.  
"Where's Tully?" Mitchell asked tentatively.

"Gone," George said. Scarlet heaved a sigh of relief and sank back onto the sofa. George looked at her, shame in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I really am... so sorry. I don't know what's happening to me. This is becoming a habit," he glanced around, surveying the room. "I come in here, look at the wreckage and I say sorry." Annie chuckled good-naturedly.

"_What's that you've got there?" _Scarlet noticed he held a silver and blue DVD disc.

"I don't know, it was on the floor as I came in," he said, scratching his head. "I assume it's Mitchell knocking over a chair in Casablanca." He handed Annie the disc.

"_Ooh, cool. I'm gonna pop it on."_ She grinned.

"My name's George...and I'm a werewolf." He said resolutely.

"Hello, George." Mitchell said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"_Just to warn you, if you go for a hug, Mitchell will try to kiss you."_ Annie grinned.

"My God, I leave you alone for five minutes..." George wailed.

"_It was like being attacked by an ironing board."_ Annie teased.

"If I'd intended to kiss you, I'd have put on some chapstick first." Mitchell defended.

"What the hell is this?" George asked as the video began, showing a man standing alone in a bedroom.

"_He's not Humphrey Bogart."_ Annie remarked.

"Who's he talking to?" George asked.

"Is he a mental?"

"_Brown duvet- it's a cry for help."_ Annie said knowingly.

"He's talking to a vampire. Their image can't be captured on camera." Mitchell said as the man began to strip. He crawled onto the bed and began thrusting his hips. Annie let out a squeal and covered her eyes.

"_Oh, my God! Are we...are we watching someone have sex?"_

"Turn it off. Annie... Turn it off..." Mitchell said lowly.

"Someone has issues..." George muttered.

"_Is he all right?"_ Annie asked as the man started furiously swatting at the air beside his head.

"He's dead." Mitchell said.

"What?!"

"No, no, no look, he is moving." Scarlet said.

"She's feeding from him." Mitchell said. The man crumbled the ground, a pool of blood growing beneath him.

"Who would send you such a thing?" George demanded.

"It's from Lauren."

"You're kidding." Scarlet sneered.

"What, that- that was her, in the film?" George asked.

"I've seen these before. It's a kill. Vampires film themselves making a kill and then they pass it on." Mitchell told them.

"_So what, it's like porn?"_ Annie asked for clarification.

"In a way."

"Why do they do it?" Scarlet demanded.

"Same reason anyone does porn." Mitchell snarled.

"You mean that's supposed to be sexy?" George asked, disgusted.

"For some," Mitchell said defensively. "But this is different, this is... personal," he muttered. "It's to remind me of what I did to her."

"It's to show you what you're missing, Mitchell," Scarlet said, voice low. "It's to bring you back." Mitchell's arms tightened around her hips possessively. Scarlet knew there was trouble ahead. She could only hope the four of them would emerge unscathed.

**Thankyou for reading! Don't be afraid to ask a question or leave a comment. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll write and the sooner I'll update!**


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